A viral video showing a black bag being tossed from a second-story White House window sparked widespread speculation this week, but President Donald Trump has dismissed the footage as likely AI-generated.
When asked about the clip during an Oval Office event on Tuesday, the president said the video could not possibly be real because of White House security measures.
“You can’t open the windows. They’re all heavily armored and bullet-proof,” Trump told reporters. “That’s probably AI. Totally fake.”
The video in question shows a person in white pants stepping onto a second-floor ledge of the White House and throwing what looks like a black plastic bag to the ground. Later, the same individual appears to toss down a long white object. The location of the footage fueled speculation since the second floor of the White House houses the president’s private residence.
While Trump dismissed the video, a White House official provided a different explanation earlier in the day. In a statement to TIME, the official suggested the clip was genuine, describing the scene as “a contractor who was doing regular maintenance while the President was gone.”
That explanation, however, did little to stop the speculation online. Memes and conspiracy theories circulated rapidly on X (formerly Twitter), with users joking about what could have been inside the bag and questioning security protocols around the executive mansion.
Social media speculation runs wildThe video was first shared by the Instagram account Washingtonianprobs, which frequently posts political memes and local D.C. humor. It quickly spread across platforms, generating millions of views. Some commenters speculated the bag contained sensitive documents or even food waste, while others pointed to the rising difficulty in distinguishing authentic footage from AI-generated content.
“It looked like something out of a comedy sketch,” one user wrote, while another quipped, “Secret Service taking out the trash in style.”
The online frenzy reflects a growing trend where viral clips, real or fake, spark waves of commentary before facts are clarified.
Trump addressed the video during a press availability in the Oval Office, where he also announced that U.S. Space Command headquarters will relocate from Colorado to Alabama, per Reuters. The president spent the Labor Day weekend at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, returning to Washington on Tuesday.
Despite the laughter and speculation online, Trump maintained that the clip was fabricated. “You can do anything with AI now,” he said, reiterating his view that the video was not authentic.
Whether staged, authentic, or digitally generated, the video has highlighted the challenges of navigating truth in an age of deepfakes and misinformation. As the president himself acknowledged, “anything you see on the internet” can be suspect, a sentiment that resonates in an election year where online narratives spread faster than ever.