FACT CHECK: Threads Image That Claims Trump Faked Crowd Size At Rally Is Altered
An image shared on Threads claims 2024 presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump purportedly faked the crowd size at one of his rallies.
Screenshot captured via Threads
Verdict: False
The claim is false, as the image is digitally altered. The original, unaltered image was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Trump’s senior advisor Dan Scavino in June 2021.
Fact Check:
Trump’s campaign announced on May 21 it is launching a cryptocurrency fundraising page, according to The Hill. The move signifies the “first time a presidential nominee has expanded its fundraising to include digital currency,” the outlet reported.
The Threads image, which has garnered over 3,000 likes as of writing, claims Trump purportedly faked the crowd size at one of his rallies. “Nobody fakes a crowd like Donald Trump,” the image’s caption reads. The image shows Trump on stage at one of his rallies with four areas of the crowd circled. The same group of people appear in the areas in question. Besides Threads, the image also circulated on X on May 19.
The claim is false, as the image is digitally altered. The original, unaltered image was shared on X by Trump’s senior advisor Scavino in June 2021. According to the same post from Scavino, the image shows a Trump rally that took place in Wellington, Ohio.
“6/26/2021 | Wellington, Ohio,” Scavino captioned the post, adding the hashtags “#TrumpRally” and “#MAGA.”
6/26/2021 | Wellington, Ohio#TrumpRally #MAGA🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/HPnURn2e3m
— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) June 27, 2021
More recently, social media user @xPatriotBlondex indicated the image purporting to show the same group of people in four different areas at the Trump rally was altered.
“Here you go,” the user wrote on X, sharing side-by-side comparisons of the altered and original images. “The original compared with the fake,” she added. (RELATED: No, Crowd Did Not Make Expletive Chant Aimed At Biden On Mother’s Day)
Likewise, Check Your Fact did not find the image referenced in any recent credible news reports about Trump. In fact, the opposite is true. On May 21, USA Today reported the image had been digitally altered. Furthermore, Trump has neither commented on the claim via his TRUTH Social account nor his official website.
Check Your Fact has contacted a Trump spokesperson for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.
