Associated Incidents
IN SHORT: A video appears to show US president Donald Trump referring to former Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua as a "terrible guy" and a "criminal" and is getting social media attention. But it is fake.
A video that appears to show US president Donald Trump criticising former Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua for being behind a "weird deep fake" video is circulating on Facebook.
In the video, Trump refers to Gachagua as "an idiot" and says he should not be allowed to abuse artificial intelligence.
"I am told there is a weird deep fake from an idiot in Kenya. We must stop this nonsense of abuse of AI. That funny fellow from Kenya. Is it Kenya? Yes. I am right. I am told he was recently impeached, and he is a terrible guy. Gachagua, let me tell you, folks. Gachagua is a criminal. A very dangerous criminal. Everyone knows it. He is bad news. Very bad news. He should not be allowed to abuse AI," he says, in part.
"You see, AI should be used to make money, make America great again, not to be abused by such lunatics. They are ruining it ... That crackpot is lucky though. If he did that on our soil, our soil, he would have been the first guy I deport," he concludes.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, uses complex computer algorithms to perform some tasks otherwise done by humans. Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence tools to create convincing digitally manipulated videos or audio. The resulting content is also called deepfake.
The video appears to be in reference to two videos that circulated in Kenya just hours after Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on 20 January 2025.
The first video appeared to show Laura Ingraham, a presenter at US broadcaster Fox News, reporting on Gachagua's arrival in US for the inauguration while the second video appeared to show Trump acknowledging Gachagua's presence in his inauguration while condemning Kenyan president William Ruto over rising cases of abductions in the country.
Africa Check found both videos to be fake. But did Trump call out Gachagua for making "weird deep fake" videos?
Ruto, Gachagua political supremacy battles
Ruto and Gachagua are keen to outdo each other, especially when it comes to Mount Kenya politics. "Mt Kenya", when used in a political context in Kenya, usually refers to the communities living in the central region of the country, specifically the Kikuyu, Meru and Embu.
Gachagua, from the Kikuyu community, played an important role in rallying the region to vote for Ruto in August 2022. He was Ruto's running mate and became Kenya's deputy president when they won the elections.
As deputy president, Gachagua sought to portray himself as the region's leader but this did not sit well with Ruto and government critics. They accused him of dividing Kenyans on ethnic grounds.
The two eventually fell out and Gachagua was subsequently impeached in October 2024 on charges of corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining Ruto's government.
The politicians have continued to differ in public over various issues, including politics and governance. For instance, Gachagua has condemned a spate of abductions in the country believed to be carried out by state agents and targeting young government critics.
AI-generated video
The use of AI tools to create deepfakes has become very popular and as the technology improves it is becoming easier to create realistic impersonations of public figures which are harder to identify as fake. But even so, there are clues that helped us identify this as one of them.
Africa Check noted that Trump's lip movements in the suspicious video don't always sync with the words he is saying. A keener look at the video also reveals movements of the tip of the microphone near Trump's mouth, suggesting it was affected in the process of manipulating his lip movements. These are the clearest clues that the video is AI-generated.
A simple reverse image search of a screenshot from the video clip led us to multiple credible videos of Trump speaking during his inauguration. In these videos, he wears the same clothes and the background looks the same as the video in question. In his full inauguration speech, we found no part where he spoke about the former Kenyan deputy president.
Local and international media have closely followed Trump's speeches and reported extensively about his decisions and executive orders. Were they true, his sentiments about Gachagua would have been reported on.
The video is fake and should be ignored.
Follow our guide on spotting AI-generated images and videos to stay ahead of these AI trends.