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White House responds to viral photo appearing to show Donald Trump ‘kissing’ aide Natalie Harp
The White House has responded after a viral image appearing to show Donald Trump kissing his aide Natalie Harp went viral online.
As previously reported, the picture shows the 80-year-old president standing near a blonde woman on a golf course, with some online users claiming she was Harp.
"Trump got caught, it seems!!" one person captioned the image, while another reacted: "Well, well, well… I think I’ve seen just about enough of this nonsense!"
Clues suggest the image may be fake
Harp has become a familiar presence alongside Trump and recently accompanied him during his trip to Ireland, where he visited his Doonbeg golf resort.
The 35-year-old is known as the "Human Printer" because her duties reportedly included carrying a portable printer, along with paper, ink, and batteries, so she could give the president printouts of positive news stories and social media posts.
Her close working relationship with Trump had already garnered attention before the latest image began circulating as the New York Times obtained a personal letter Harp reportedly sent Trump after accompanying him on a golf course in Scotland.
"I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland," she penned in the letter after a video apparently showed her running across the course to keep up with Trump’s cart.
She continued: "I want things to always be right between us. I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time)."
She apparently ended the letter with the sign-off: "With all my heart, Natalie."
The publication had previously reported on other notes Harp allegedly sent Trump, including one in which she allegedly told him: "You are all that matters to me."
That letter has helped spark interest in the supposed kissing photo when it went viral on social media, but a closer look quickly raised questions about how real it is.
One of the most obvious clues was the woman's hand, which appears to have six fingers while holding a golf club.
One user called the extra finger the "icing on the cake" when arguing that the image was AI-generated.
Another simply wrote: "It’s AI," pointing to the woman's hand, golf clubs, and other details.
White House responds
Snopes investigated the image and found more reasons to question its authenticity.
The White House declined to provide real photos of Trump and Harp golfing for comparison, but a spokesperson described the viral image as "clearly a fake photo".
Snopes also contacted political commentator Keith Edwards after the image appeared in a thumbnail for one of his YouTube videos.
"My thumbnail team found the image online. We did not create or alter the underlying image, but we also did not independently verify its original source or that the woman pictured is Natalie Harp. Given that only the back of her head is visible, I don’t think her identity can be confirmed from this image alone," Edwards said.
Snopes found apparent signs of AI manipulation in the higher-resolution version, including the six-fingered hand and a watermark associated with generative AI tools.
Deepfake expert Hany Farid also examined the images and said: "The high-resolution version was clearly derived from the lower-resolution version and has a SynthID watermark. As for the lower-resolution version, there is not a lot to go on here given the quality and resolution."
He ultimately concluded: "At this point, I’d say the authenticity is inconclusive."
While the picture continues to circulate online, there remains no credible evidence that Trump and Harp were actually pictured kissing.