Metadata reveals Trump post about 'golden gift' to US is just an AI-generated image
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U.S. President Donald Trump appears on a screen in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2026. REUTERS/Nicolas Economou
On Monday evening, the Trump White House posted, on X, an image that showed a golden eagle attached to the Truman Balcony. The post read, "A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year! - President Donald J. Trump." The president himself posted the image on his Truth Social platform.
But according to CNN, the image doesn't appear to be an actual photo, but rather, an AI-generated image.
CNN's Donald Judd reports that there are "small differences between the railing of the balcony in the picture and the real-life Truman Balcony."
Judd explains, "The image also has content credentials in its metadata that indicate it was created with Google AI. And Andrew Leyden, a freelance photographer, posted images on X of the balcony he said were taken at 9:30 p.m. — after Trump posted the image — that did not show the eagle."
In a Tuesday morning post on X, Judd observed, "The shield also features 11 stars, as opposed to 13, and content credentials in its metadata that indicate it was created with Google AI."
The CNN reporter notes that Trump has done a lot of redecorating during his second presidency.
"Since returning to office in 2025," Judd reports, "Trump has added a string of personal touches to the White House, affixing assorted gold accents throughout the Oval Office and attaching large, challenge-coin style medallions throughout the West Wing and White House residence. He's also overseen massive construction projects, including a completely remodeled White House Rose Garden, two large flagpoles on the White House North and South Lawns, and the demolition of the East Wing, which the president has bulldozed to make way for his controversial ballroom project."
Trump is claiming that the proposed ballroom is a matter of national security, as he has survived three assassination attempts. The president's critics, however, are arguing that the ballroom is merely a vanity project — not relevant to national security.
Trump is also proposing a "triumphal arch" that, if completed, would appear next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington DC. But according to CBS News reporters Arden Farhi and Jacob Rosen, opponents of the project — including some U.S. military veterans — believe that the proposed arch "hasn't gotten proper congressional approval."
The Truman Balcony, which overlooks the South Lawn of the White House, was completed in 1948 and named after then-President Harry S. Truman.