Photo of Trump donating $1,300 check for hurricane relief is fake

Claim:

One image authentically shows former US President Donald Trump donating $1,300 for hurricane relief in October 2024.

Rating:

Context

The image was fake and was likely generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

A rumor circulating online in October 2024 claimed that former US President Donald Trump donated a check for the paltry amount of $1,300 for hurricane relief. The posts included an image allegedly taken from the Fox News Channel showing Trump holding a check made out to “Trump Manie Mar M AIFAL.”

The purported Fox News headline on the image read: “Trump donates $1,300 for hurricane relief.” The timing of the rumor suggests the donation was to help victims recovering from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

For example, on October 13, an X user posted (archived) the image with the caption: “Taylor Swift $5 million. Dolly Parton $1 million. Ryan Reynolds $1 million. Metallica $500k . 1.3 thousand dollars is less than what Trump spends monthly on makeup and KFC.” The post showed more than 3.2 million views and 89,000 likes at the time of writing.

Other users on Reddit, Threads and X also shared the image. Some of these users seemed to interpret the rumor as a true account of real-life events, which it was not.

As BBC Verify senior reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh reported to X, there was no evidence that Trump would give the specific amount of $1,300 for hurricane relief. Rather, all signs indicated that the image had originated with a (archived) satirical post by Reddit user u/BobbyKristina on the r/EnoughTrumpSpam subreddit. The post read: “Parody: Trump donates to help hurricane victims.” As such, and given the lack of evidence to suggest otherwise, we have concluded that this article is fictitious and originated as a joke.

The “$1,300 check” story spread simultaneously with an unfounded rumor claiming that Trump had given $25 million of his own money to victims of Hurricane Helene.

Reddit user u/BobbyChristina has an (archived) history of making up stories to get shares and comments, sometimes relying on one or more AI tools to create fake images.

One of the telltale signs of an AI-created image is a series of letters or words that don’t make sense, such as the nonsensical text on the $1,300 check that reads “URA” and “Trump Manie Mar M AIFAL.”

Snopes has addressed similar claims with AI-generated images before. For example, we reported on a fake photo that appeared to be displayed a crying girl holding a puppy in a boat after Helene We also recently published an article debunking another fake image that appeared to be showing up two overweight, armed Trump supporters dressed in camo to beg for food.

By way of background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous, parodic or satirical.

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