Photo showing Kamala Harris with Jeffrey Epstein is a fake

By: Soham Shah
December 7 2023

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A photo of Kamala Harris with her husband, Doug Emhoff, has been altered and used to claim that it shows her with Jeffrey Epstein. (Source: X/Getty Images/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

Users on social media platform X have shared a photo of United States Vice-President Kamala Harris with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. A recent post was shared with the caption, "Maybe this is why we can't see those flight logs…..🤔🤔🤔🤔", an archive of which can be found here. Such posts have circulated before on platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

However, we found that this photo was edited.

What's the truth?

We found that the photo was initially posted on Getty Images and shows Harris with her husband, Douglas Emhoff, at The Broad Museum Black Tie Inaugural Dinner on September 17, 2015. The photo is credited to Jerod Harris of Getty Images.

The original photo shows Kamala Harris with her husband. (Source: Screenshot/Getty Images)

In the photo, Harris can be seen wearing the same clothes and jewelry, and the exact text is visible on the board behind the couple. Epstein's head has been superimposed on Emhoff's body using digital tools.

Comparison of viral photo with real photo. (Source: X/Getty Images/Modified by Logically Facts)

The photo of Epstein used to create the altered image comes from a mugshot shared by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department following his arrest in July 2006. 

2006 Arrest photo used to create viral image. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Several fact-checking organizations have debunked the altered photo, but continues to circulate on social media.

Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender who solicited prostitution from minors and was also accused of running a network of underage girls for sex. Epstein had connections to the U.S. elite like Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. While in jail in 2019, he died by suicide, which has led to various conspiracy theories. 

The verdict

We have marked the photo as fake as it is digitally altered to show Kamala Harris with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.