Trump Falsely Accuses Harris Campaign of Using AI to Alter Rally Photo

Trump falsely claims a crowd photo from Harris' campaign rally in Detroit was created using AI

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spreading false claims that an image of thousands of people waiting at Detroit's airport as Democrat Kamala Harris arrived for a campaign rally was fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence. Reporters, photographers and video journalists representing The Associated Press and other news organizations who either traveled with Vice President Harris or were on the airport tarmac documented the crowd size last Wednesday as she arrived on Air Force Two. Harris' campaign also denied the photo in question was manipulated and posted about it on social media. Fifteen thousand people attended the Detroit airport rally, Harris' campaign said. Harris and Walz spoke from inside a hangar where people were packed in. The crowd also spilled out onto the tarmac. The Wayne County Airport Authority, which oversees the airport, referred questions about the size of the crowd to Harris' campaign. Thousands of people have been showing up at her campaign rallies. By the Harris campaign's count, 12,000 people turned out for rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, last week, followed by 15,000 in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when law enforcement halted admission because people were getting ill waiting outside in the extreme 109-degree heat. About 4,000 people were waiting in line when the doors were closed. An Associated Press reporter who covered the Harris events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, witnessed the throngs of people in attendance. Trump pushed his false claims in back-to-back posts on his social media site on Sunday. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!." he wrote. He included a post from another individual who made similar allegations about photo manipulation. A minute later Trump posted, "Look, we caught her with a fake 'crowd.' There was nobody there!" He included a photo of the crowd that was partly shaded and partly exposed to the sun. Harris' campaign confirmed on Monday that the photo being questioned was taken by a staff member and was not in any way modified using AI. Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, analyzed the photo using two models trained to detect patterns of generative AI and found no evidence of manipulation. The models were developed by GetReal Labs, a company Farid co-founded. Farid, responding Monday in an email, said he compared several versions of the photo and the only alteration he detected was some simple change to brightness or contrast, and perhaps sharpening. He said many other images and videos from the event last Wednesday show the same basic scene. Trump started pushing false theories about the Harris campaign photo a few days after he held a news conference at his Florida estate on Thursday and was asked about the crowds at his Democratic rival's rallies. Trump said no one draws crowds as big as he does. "I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me," Trump claimed at the news conference, his first since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. He went on to falsely compare the crowd at his speech in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial. But King drew far more people. Approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King gave his speech, according to the National Park Service. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that there were at least 10,000 people at Trump's address. Some of Trump's top advisers and supporters have been urging the former president to focus his criticisms on Harris' policies and talk more about the border and the economy. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds," was the advice former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered during a Fox News appearance on Monday. The Harris campaign needled Trump on a variety of issues in an email Monday titled "9 Days Since Trump's Last Swing State Event." The note included a bullet point that said, "he's very mad about crowd sizes, claiming it's all fake and AI-generated. (Maybe if he campaigned he'd get crowds too?)"

Trump falsely claims a crowd photo from Harris' campaign rally in Detroit was created using AI

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spreading false claims that an image of thousands of people waiting at Detroit's airport as Democrat Kamala Harris arrived for a campaign rally was fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence. Reporters, photographers and video journalists representing The Associated Press and other news organizations who either traveled with Vice President Harris or were on the airport tarmac documented the crowd size last Wednesday as she arrived on Air Force Two. Harris' campaign also denied the photo in question was manipulated and posted about it on social media. Fifteen thousand people attended the Detroit airport rally, Harris' campaign said. Harris and Walz spoke from inside a hangar where people were packed in. The crowd also spilled out onto the tarmac. The Wayne County Airport Authority, which oversees the airport, referred questions about the size of the crowd to Harris' campaign. Thousands of people have been showing up at her campaign rallies. By the Harris campaign's count, 12,000 people turned out for rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, last week, followed by 15,000 in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when law enforcement halted admission because people were getting ill waiting outside in the extreme 109-degree heat. About 4,000 people were waiting in line when the doors were closed. An Associated Press reporter who covered the Harris events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, witnessed the throngs of people in attendance. Trump pushed his false claims in back-to-back posts on his social media site on Sunday. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!." he wrote. He included a post from another individual who made similar allegations about photo manipulation. A minute later Trump posted, "Look, we caught her with a fake 'crowd.' There was nobody there!" He included a photo of the crowd that was partly shaded and partly exposed to the sun. Harris' campaign confirmed on Monday that the photo being questioned was taken by a staff member and was not in any way modified using AI. Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, analyzed the photo using two models trained to detect patterns of generative AI and found no evidence of manipulation. The models were developed by GetReal Labs, a company Farid co-founded. Farid, responding Monday in an email, said he compared several versions of the photo and the only alteration he detected was some simple change to brightness or contrast, and perhaps sharpening. He said many other images and videos from the event last Wednesday show the same basic scene. Trump started pushing false theories about the Harris campaign photo a few days after he held a news conference at his Florida estate on Thursday and was asked about the crowds at his Democratic rival's rallies. Trump said no one draws crowds as big as he does. "I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me," Trump claimed at the news conference, his first since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. He went on to falsely compare the crowd at his speech in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial. But King drew far more people. Approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King gave his speech, according to the National Park Service. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that there were at least 10,000 people at Trump's address. Some of Trump's top advisers and supporters have been urging the former president to focus his criticisms on Harris' policies and talk more about the border and the economy. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds," was the advice former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered during a Fox News appearance on Monday. The Harris campaign needled Trump on a variety of issues in an email Monday titled "9 Days Since Trump's Last Swing State Event." The note included a bullet point that said, "he's very mad about crowd sizes, claiming it's all fake and AI-generated. (Maybe if he campaigned he'd get crowds too?)"

Trump falsely claims a crowd photo from Harris' campaign rally in Detroit was created using AI

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spreading false claims that an image of thousands of people waiting at Detroit's airport as Democrat Kamala Harris arrived for a campaign rally was fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence. Reporters, photographers and video journalists representing The Associated Press and other news organizations who either traveled with Vice President Harris or were on the airport tarmac documented the crowd size last Wednesday as she arrived on Air Force Two. Harris' campaign also denied the photo in question was manipulated and posted about it on social media. Fifteen thousand people attended the Detroit airport rally, Harris' campaign said. Harris and Walz spoke from inside a hangar where people were packed in. The crowd also spilled out onto the tarmac. The Wayne County Airport Authority, which oversees the airport, referred questions about the size of the crowd to Harris' campaign. Thousands of people have been showing up at her campaign rallies. By the Harris campaign's count, 12,000 people turned out for rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, last week, followed by 15,000 in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when law enforcement halted admission because people were getting ill waiting outside in the extreme 109-degree heat. About 4,000 people were waiting in line when the doors were closed. An Associated Press reporter who covered the Harris events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, witnessed the throngs of people in attendance. Trump pushed his false claims in back-to-back posts on his social media site on Sunday. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!." he wrote. He included a post from another individual who made similar allegations about photo manipulation. A minute later Trump posted, "Look, we caught her with a fake 'crowd.' There was nobody there!" He included a photo of the crowd that was partly shaded and partly exposed to the sun. Harris' campaign confirmed on Monday that the photo being questioned was taken by a staff member and was not in any way modified using AI. Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, analyzed the photo using two models trained to detect patterns of generative AI and found no evidence of manipulation. The models were developed by GetReal Labs, a company Farid co-founded. Farid, responding Monday in an email, said he compared several versions of the photo and the only alteration he detected was some simple change to brightness or contrast, and perhaps sharpening. He said many other images and videos from the event last Wednesday show the same basic scene. Trump started pushing false theories about the Harris campaign photo a few days after he held a news conference at his Florida estate on Thursday and was asked about the crowds at his Democratic rival's rallies. Trump said no one draws crowds as big as he does. "I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me," Trump claimed at the news conference, his first since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. He went on to falsely compare the crowd at his speech in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial. But King drew far more people. Approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King gave his speech, according to the National Park Service. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that there were at least 10,000 people at Trump's address. Some of Trump's top advisers and supporters have been urging the former president to focus his criticisms on Harris' policies and talk more about the border and the economy. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds," was the advice former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered during a Fox News appearance on Monday. The Harris campaign needled Trump on a variety of issues in an email Monday titled "9 Days Since Trump's Last Swing State Event." The note included a bullet point that said, "he's very mad about crowd sizes, claiming it's all fake and AI-generated. (Maybe if he campaigned he'd get crowds too?)"

Trump Falsely Claims a Crowd Photo From Harris' Campaign Rally in Detroit Was Created Using AI

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spreading false claims that an image of thousands of people waiting at Detroit's airport as Democrat Kamala Harris arrived for a campaign rally was fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence. Reporters, photographers and video journalists representing The Associated Press and other news organizations who either traveled with Vice President Harris or were on the airport tarmac documented the crowd size last Wednesday as she arrived on Air Force Two. Harris' campaign also denied the photo in question was manipulated and posted about it on social media. Fifteen thousand people attended the Detroit airport rally, Harris' campaign said. Harris and Walz spoke from inside a hangar where people were packed in. The crowd also spilled out onto the tarmac. The Wayne County Airport Authority, which oversees the airport, referred questions about the size of the crowd to Harris' campaign. Thousands of people have been showing up at her campaign rallies. By the Harris campaign's count, 12,000 people turned out for rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, last week, followed by 15,000 in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when law enforcement halted admission because people were getting ill waiting outside in the extreme 109-degree heat. About 4,000 people were waiting in line when the doors were closed. An Associated Press reporter who covered the Harris events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, witnessed the throngs of people in attendance. Trump pushed his false claims in back-to-back posts on his social media site on Sunday. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!." he wrote. He included a post from another individual who made similar allegations about photo manipulation. A minute later Trump posted, "Look, we caught her with a fake 'crowd.' There was nobody there!" He included a photo of the crowd that was partly shaded and partly exposed to the sun. Harris' campaign confirmed on Monday that the photo being questioned was taken by a staff member and was not in any way modified using AI. Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation, analyzed the photo using two models trained to detect patterns of generative AI and found no evidence of manipulation. The models were developed by GetReal Labs, a company Farid co-founded. Farid, responding Monday in an email, said he compared several versions of the photo and the only alteration he detected was some simple change to brightness or contrast, and perhaps sharpening. He said many other images and videos from the event last Wednesday show the same basic scene. Trump started pushing false theories about the Harris campaign photo a few days after he held a news conference at his Florida estate on Thursday and was asked about the crowds at his Democratic rival's rallies. Trump said no one draws crowds as big as he does. "I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me," Trump claimed at the news conference, his first since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. He went on to falsely compare the crowd at his speech in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial. But King drew far more people. Approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King gave his speech, according to the National Park Service. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that there were at least 10,000 people at Trump's address. Some of Trump's top advisers and supporters have been urging the former president to focus his criticisms on Harris' policies and talk more about the border and the economy. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds," was the advice former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered during a Fox News appearance on Monday. The Harris campaign needled Trump on a variety of issues in an email Monday titled "9 Days Since Trump's Last Swing State Event." The note included a bullet point that said, "he's very mad about crowd sizes, claiming it's all fake and AI-generated. (Maybe if he campaigned he'd get crowds too?)" Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Trump falsely claims Harris' campaign used AI to alter photo of crowd size

In a social media post on Sunday, former President Donald Trump falsely accused Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign of using artificial intelligence to fabricate crowds a campaign rally in Michigan last week. The picture referenced by Trump shows a large crowd waiting to see Harris speak at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Aug. 7 A Harris campaign official told ABC News that the photo Trump called into question was taken by a Harris campaign staffer and that it was "not modified by AI in any way." "The photo in question was taken by a staffer on their iPhone 12 Pro at 6:28PM on August 7, at the rally at the Detroit Airport," the campaign official told ABC News in a statement. ABC News obtained the original image and was able to verify the metadata matched with the timing of the event. Harris' Aug. 7 rally in Detroit, Michigan, was the third event of her battleground blitz since Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joined the ticket. The campaign touts that more than 15,000 people attended the rally. By comparison, the first public appearance that Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance shared had more than 12,000 spectators in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump's campaign said. The Harris campaign said there were more than 10,000 supporters at each stop on Harris and Walz's battleground state blitz last week. The Harris campaign also disputed Trump's accusations in multiple social media posts and attacked Trump for not campaigning in a swing state as the former president spent the weekend campaigning and fundraising in Western states. In recent weeks, Trump has continued to make baseless claims that the Harris campaign pays for her crowd as his Democratic rival gains momentum with large-scale rallies. The former president has long boasted about his crowd size. In a news conference last week, Trump claimed that "nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me." He grew increasingly angry when asked about Harris' crowd size -- comparing them to his own. "Oh, give me a break," Trump replied to the reporter. "I have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the crowd size. And they never say the crowd was big. That's why I'm always saying, turn around the cameras," Trump said. Trump then went on to compare the crowd that gathered for his speech in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, to Martin Luther King Jr. 's 1963 March on Washington, which the civil rights leader delivered to an estimated crowd of 200,000 people, according to the U.S. Census. "I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me. If you look at Martin Luther King when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people. If not, we had more. And they said he had a million people, but I had 25,000 people," Trump said. Trump's next rally is on Wednesday at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, which has a maximum capacity of 7,200 people; however, Trump's venues often vary in size. After that, he is set to have a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza -- a venue that holds nearly 10,000 people.

Trump falsely claims Harris campaign used AI to fake crowd in Detroit

However, numerous videos from the event at Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport show a large crowd attended, and the videos show a crowd similar to the one seen in the photo. Local reporters for the news site MLive estimated 15,000 people were present as Air Force Two arrived. Similar photos were also taken by news agencies covering the event, including Reuters and Getty Images. The photo Trump questioned was posted to X by a Michigan campaign staffer for Harris, who said he received it from a colleague. CBS News has reached out to the Harris campaign to ask whether someone on the campaign took the photograph and to request an original copy of the photograph for analysis. Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in deepfake detection, said in a post on LinkedIn that he received multiple requests to analyze the image after it went viral online. Farid said he found no evidence that the image was AI-generated or digitally altered. Farid said the text on the signs and plane show none of the usual signs of generative AI. The Harris campaign responded to Trump's accusations on Truth Social, replying to one of his posts by sharing a video from the event that showed Air Force Two arriving. "In case you forgot @realdonaldtrump: This is what a rally in a swing state looks like." But Trump supporters on social media continued to share debunked images and spread false claims. One of those bogus images on Telegram and X showed AI-generated faces with a caption claiming they were "fake Harris supporters" allegedly circulated by the Harris campaign. However, CBS News found this photo was not circulated by the Harris campaign. An X user who runs a parody account claimed to be behind the image and said it was generated using AI. A screenshot of what looked like a Craigslist advertisement for paid actors to attend a political event at the Phoenix, Arizona Convention Center, also circulated over the weekend. But the ad was fake, and versions of it have been debunked since at least 2017 by AZ Central, Snopes, and Reuters. Trump has boasted about crowds at his rallies in recent days. At a news conference on Thursday, the Republican presidential nominee said he thought that more people attended his speech in front of the Ellipse near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, than Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. Trump acknowledged official estimates showed King had a larger crowd size. According to the National Park Service, approximately 250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, where King spoke. Approximately 53,000 people attended Trump's speech on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the House Select Committee that investigated the assault on the Capitol that took place later that day. "Nobody has spoken to crowds bigger than me," Trump said.

Trump promotes false Harris AI crowd size conspiracy

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday accused his November election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of using AI technology to fabricate images of the crowd sizes at her rallies, amplifying an unfounded conspiracy to explain the strong enthusiasm for the new Democratic ticket. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" the Republican presidential nominee wrote on Truth Social. Trump was referring to an image of a large crowd gathered on the tarmac in Michigan last week, cheering for Harris as she stepped out of Air Force Two. His comments parroted a conspiracy by MAGA Republican commentators, some of whom have previously been caught for promoting misinformation. The Harris campaign rejected the accusation, maintaining that the image is "an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan." The campaign also used the opportunity to point out the contrast between Harris' campaign schedule over the past week and Trump's: "Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week... Low energy?" The back-and-forth represents how more advanced AI tools have eased the process of spreading misinformation this election cycle, making it more difficult than ever for voters to discern reality from internet conspiracy. But Trump's peddling of the conspiracy was among several social media tirades against Harris over this weekend. On Saturday, he slammed Harris for copying his proposal to eliminate taxes on tips, which she announced at her Las Vegas rally Saturday, months after Trump made the same promise at his own Las Vegas rally in June. ''[Harris] has no imagination, whatsoever, as shown by the fact that she played 'COPYCAT' with, NO TAXES ON TIPS!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday evening. Trump's outrage on social media ultimately reflects a Republican presidential nominee in whiplash. In the three weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, donations have poured in at record levels for the vice president and her rallies have regularly drawn tens of thousands of attendees. Last week, the Harris campaign organized a barnstorming of seven battleground states across the country, though several of those stops were postponed due to inclement weather. That is a considerably higher pace of campaigning than when Biden helmed the ticket and draws a stark contrast to Trump's lighter schedule over the past few weeks. Trump has held one rally so far in August and said he does not plan to pick up his travel until after the Democratic National Convention, which goes from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22.

Insecure Trump Lies, Claims Harris Crowd Was Manipulated With AI

Former president Donald Trump is trying to downplay his presidential opponents' rally crowd sizes, falsely claiming that "nobody was there" at a Detroit event hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz. Trump, who is obsessed with the size of his own crowds and frequently exaggerates attendance numbers, is "unhappy" with the number of people who have been attending Harris and Walz's campaign events, as Rolling Stone reported last week. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?" Trump ranted Sunday on Truth Social. "There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane," Trump wrote. "She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the 'crowd' looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake 'crowds' at her speeches. This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING." In a subsequent post, Trump included an image showing a crowd looking at the vice president's plane and claimed without evidence, "Look, we caught her with a fake 'crowd.' There was nobody there!" Trump is lying. Multiple news channels broadcast the event via live stream, where the crowd is clearly visible. Photographers from the Associated Press and many other national and international outlets captured the attendees. Local news reported that "about 15,000 people filled the hangar" and the crowd was "spilling out onto the tarmac and cheering as Air Force Two arrived." In response to Trump's claim, the Harris campaign posted a screenshot of Trump's post and wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan 2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week... Low energy?" Fact-checking outlet Snopes ran an artificial intelligence analysis on the image that concluded it was "96% human," meaning it was likely a genuine photograph. Another AI analysis by Snopes found a 58% chance the image was not created by AI. The Harris campaign has indulged in trolling Trump about the apparent enthusiasm gap, posting on social media side-by-side images of Harris' rallies in the same city or venue as Trump events, noting the empty seats and comparatively smaller crowds at Trump's speeches. On Thursday, Trump repeatedly and falsely alleged that the crowd at his Jan. 6 Stop the Steal speech, which immediately preceded the Capitol attack, had the "same number of people, if not, we had more" than Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington. Also last week, Trump claimed that Harris "pays for her 'Crowd.' At his Friday rally, the former president lied that 107,000 people came to see him speak in New Jersey and another 80,000 were at his rally in South Carolina. Both of those numbers are provably false. Trump's crowd lies go back years. In 2017, his then White House advisor Kellyanne Conway infamously said that press secretary Sean Spicer's claims that Trump's inauguration had the "largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period" (another obvious exaggeration) were not falsehoods but merely "alternative facts." Spicer has since admitted to Rolling Stone that he exaggerated the number of attendees and said he regrets it. It seems highly unlikely that Trump, however, would ever make a similar admission.

Despite Trump's Claims, Footage Shows Large Crowd at Harris's Detroit Rally

Former President Donald J. Trump claimed without evidence on Sunday that his rival in the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, had used artificial intelligence to doctor or create an image of a rally that showed a large crowd in Detroit last week. "She 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" Mr. Trump wrote on his social networking site, Truth Social. Three reporters from The New York Times who attended the Michigan rally confirmed that the crowd numbered in the thousands, contrary to Mr. Trump's assertion that "there was nobody there." A Times analysis of photos and videos of the event also showed that Mr. Trump's claims about the size of the crowd were unfounded. Other images and videos from multiple vantage points showed a large audience. Crowd size is often a point of comparison between candidates, but Mr. Trump has now given it more intense focus. A Harris campaign official told The Times by email that the original photo in question was taken by a campaign staff member and was not modified by artificial intelligence. The crowd was packed tightly inside the airplane hangar. Some attendees waited for Ms. Harris's arrival on elevated platforms that gave them a higher vantage point, but a majority stood on the floor. From some angles at the back of the hangar where reporters were positioned, it was difficult to gauge how far the crowd extended. But by moving over to a nearby riser that faced the open door of the hangar, Times reporters could see the size of the crowd more clearly. It stretched beyond the hangar, spilling out onto the tarmac beyond -- not far from where Air Force Two came to a stop. Ms. Harris's X account streamed the rally, with the first few minutes panning over the crowd as Air Force Two arrived. The Harris campaign later posted on X that the image reflected what the campaign said was 15,000 attendees, and it also responded to Trump's post with a video of the crowds as Air Force Two arrived at the Detroit Metro Airport. Posts calling into question the authenticity of the crowd photo, and of the size of Ms. Harris's audience, had already begun to bubble up among far-right Trump supporters before Mr. Trump seized on it. Mr. Trump's Truth Social post included a screenshot of an X post by Chuck Callesto, calling the crowd image "FAKE." Mr. Callesto is a conservative social media strategist who has frequently posted falsehoods and "Stop the Steal" content about the 2020 election. Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist whom Mr. Trump wanted to hire for a role on his campaign, posted multiple times about the photo, and Joe Hoft, a far-right blogger, wrote a post about it. Before Ms. Harris's rally, Mr. Trump had already been focused on comparing crowd sizes at her rallies with those at his own. He said during one of his campaign speeches that Ms. Harris had drawn crowds because she had entertainment and that he did not need to do the same to attract attendees.

Trump Claims, Without Evidence, That Harris 'A.I.'d' Her Raucous Crowds This Week

President Trump's claim -- without evidence -- that Vice President Harris's crowd sizes at recent rallies across critical swing states are actually being inflated by artificial intelligence brings into focus how the 45th president is struggling to adapt to a race transformed by President Biden's withdrawal. Trump contends says that alleged anomalies in photographs are evidence of Ms. Harris dissembling about the size of her crowds. Since announcing Governor Walz as her running mate, Ms. Harris has been on a whirlwind tour of half-a-dozen swing states to energize Democrats. At every rally over the course of the week, she drew more than 10,000 attendees. Trump is not pleased. He took to Truth Social to write"Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" Trump wrote of the vice president's recent rally at an airplane hanger in Michigan that drew more than 15,000 attendees, according to her campaign. "She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror-like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane. She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the 'crowd' looked like 10,000 people!" Trump expounded further on Truth Social on Sunday. Trump claims that this manipulation is evidence of a larger fraud. "This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING -- And they're even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE," he wrote. Later in the day, Trump posted another message on his social media platform, saying that Ms. Harris's "fake 'crowd'" was a sign of election interference. "EVERYTHING ABOUT KAMALA IS FAKE!" Trump shot off in one message on Sunday. The former president has long seen his rally attendance as a point of pride. For the bulk of his political career, he has been one of the only candidates or office holders who has consistently drawn large crowds for his events. In 2016, his rallies became political phenomena and central to his improbable rise to the presidency.. Democrats are reveling in Trump's consternation. Mr. Walz, on Thursday, quipped at a rally for Ms. Harris at Arizona that the Harris-Walz ticket may have drawn the largest crowd for a political event in the state's history. "It's not as if anybody cares about crowd sizes," Mr. Walz said with a laugh.

Debunkng claims targeting Harris campaign used AI to falsify crowd

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday falsely claimed Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign lied about a crowd attending her Aug. 7 rally in Detroit, Michigan. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said a photo of the crowd was created using artificial intelligence and that the crowd in fact "didn't exist."

Getty Images photographer debunks Donald Trump's 'fake crowd' rant about Kamala Harris, citing...

On Sunday, Trump alleged that photos showing a large crowd at Harris' rally in Detroit were manipulated using artificial intelligence. He took to Truth Social to express his doubts, continue his rant and suggest that the crowd images were fabricated. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?" Trump posted. ALSO READ| Trump slammed with $3 million lawsuit from Isaac Hayes' estate over unauthorised use of THIS song in his rallies "There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane." "She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the 'crowd' looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake 'crowds' at her speeches," the former POTUS ranted. "EVERYTHING ABOUT KAMALA IS FAKE!" Trump stated in another Truth Social post. He shared another distant photo from the August 7 event, again claiming that the crowd was fake. Andrew Harnik, a Getty Images photographer who was present at the rally, told the Daily Beast, "It was a large crowd, and the pictures that I took that are on the Getty website speak to that." He explained that he used a zoom lens, which can create the appearance of bringing objects closer together, but this does not alter the reality of what was in front of him. "The plane is actually a pretty far distance from the crowd," Harnik added. Harnik, who has covered politics for decades, including Trump's campaigns, said that as journalists, "We keep our own opinions to ourselves and just cover what we see in front of us." ALSO READ| Adin Ross threatens to leave US, declares he has to take back Rolex gifted to Donald Trump and give it to... Several outlet reports, photos, and videos from the rally clearly depicted a large gathering of supporters waiting for Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Media outlets and the press pool captured the event from various angles, showing the crowd's size as Harris and Walz spoke. Harris's senior adviser, David Plouffe, refuted Trump's baseless claims, stating they were not merely "conspiratorial rantings from the deepest recesses of the internet" but from someone who "could have the nuclear codes and be responsible for decisions that will affect us all for decades."

Trump Falsely Accuses Harris Of Using AI For Massive Crowd At Rally

"Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane," the former reality TV star posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday.

Trump falsely accuses Kamala Harris of using AI to show massive crowd at rally

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