Donald Trump-Natalie Harp kissing photo sparks cheating claims; fact-checking viral social media image

President Donald Trump was accused of cheating by many online after an alleged photo appeared to show the Republican and his aide Natalie Harp sharing a kiss. The picture appeared to show the two on a golf course with Trump planting a kiss on a woman, the internet claimed was Harp.

To be sure, this photo was shared by unverified profiles but quickly went viral on social media.

The alleged photo of Harp and Trump comes at a time when the White House aide has been the focus of public attention with mainstream media reports shining a light on Harp's proximity to Trump.

While Harp was always known to be one of Trump's most fiercely loyal aides, Senator Jon Ossoff's remarks on her sparked new interest. Last month, the senator had said "While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings," adding, “He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar."

Also Read | Trump gave Natalie Harp, Chamberlain Harris and Margo Martin $45,000 holiday gifts: White House explains why

After this, reports from CNN and MS Now shed more light into Harp's work for Trump. She reportedly worked at the White House for a while without having the necessary clearance. Harp also allegedly once rode in the trunk of a SUV to follow Trump. She has reportedly written deeply personal letters to Trump, which surfaced amid the row as well. Further, Harp is reportedly in charge of Trump's social media accounts and as per CNN, those in the president's orbit speculated that it was her who put out the racist Truth Social post on ex-president Barack Obama.

Amid the discussion, an alleged photo said to show Trump and Harp has also circulated widely on social media. The image appears to show a man resembling the president wearing a white T-shirt and light-colored pants, standing close to a woman whose face is not visible. The woman appears to be wearing white clothing and a golf glove while holding a club.

However, there is no mainstream media reportage of this interaction. While most profiles shared a blurry version of this image, one profile shared a cleared-up version of the picture.

However, the image does not appear to be real. When shared on AI detection software, most said that the image was fake. Further, there is no mainstream reportage on the picture, which would have warranted heavy coverage given the nature of its content.

Some people also pointed out that the image was AI-generated. “All the Left has is fake AI photos,” one wrote . Meanwhile, Grok too fact-checked the authenticity of this photo and the AI chatbot said “Modern AI-generated images can be virtually indistinguishable from real ones, so visual inspection alone cannot confirm authenticity. No credible news sources, Getty archives, or primary reports document this exact golf-course scene of Trump kissing a blonde woman in a white dress. It remains unverified.”

While the photo's authenticity remained unverified, Trump was accused of cheating by his critics.