Video of crowd around a Donald Trump motorcade shared as President Joe Biden’s rally

By: Soham Shah
May 27 2024

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X post claiming the video shows visuals from an old Biden rally in New York and not Trump’s motorcade. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

On May 21, American businessman Eric Trump, son of former U.S. President Donald Trump, reposted a video of several people gathered on a street on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “It was a beautiful scene pulling back up to Trump Tower! Such unbelievable love!” Responding to the post, X users claimed that the video shows a crowd from when President Joe Biden visited New York in April, and is not related to Donald Trump. 

A community note appeared with Eric Trump’s post which read, “This is not a video of a crowd in NY gathered for Trump on his way back to his golden tower. It’s a video of a crowd that was gathered for President Biden back in April when he visited Howard Stern in NY.”   This note has now been removed from the post but is still present in the proposed notes section. In this section, community note contributors vote for or against proposed notes to decide the note in question should be added to the post. This section is only visible to community note contributors. Archives of posts claiming that the viral video shows a crowd gathered to see President Biden can be viewed here, here, here and here.

Screenshot of social media posts claiming that the viral video shows a crowd gathered to see President Biden. (Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, the footage in question was shot when Donald Trump’s motorcade was passing through the streets of New York.

What is the truth?

Using reverse image and Google search, we found that the video was first posted (archive here) by Donald Trump’s Deputy Director of Communications Margo Martin on X on May 20 with the caption, “People lining the streets of New York to get a glimpse of President @realDonaldTrump!”

 A few minutes before this, she had shared another video (archived here) of Trump’s motorcade with the caption, “President @realDonaldTrump departs the courthouse.” 

After online criticism alleging the video was old surfaced, and the community note was added to Eric Trump’s post sharing the same video, Martin posted (archived here) a screenshot of her phone gallery on May 21. This screenshot shows that the video was captured in ‘New York Yesterday 5:52 PM’. She said that the “time-stamped screenshot” proves the video from President Trump’s motorcade outside of Trump Tower.

Furthermore, C-SPAN Communications Director Howard Mortman posted footage (archived here) on X May 20 with the caption “Trump returns to Trump Tower.” As pointed out by Bill Mcarthy, a fact-checker for AFP in a thread (archived here) on X, multiple people seen as part of the crowd in the viral video can also be seen in this C-SPAN footage. This confirms the footage was captured when Trump’s motorcade passed New York on May 20.

A person visible in the May 20 C-SPAN footage can also be spotted in the viral clip. (Source:X/Howard Mortman/C-SPAN/Modified by Logically Facts)

Another man was seen in both the May 20 C-SPAN footage and the viral clip. (Source:X/Howard Mortman/C-SPAN/Modified by Logically Facts)

Photos of Trump at Trump Towers in New York on May 20 by James Devaney for GC Images, available on the stock -photo website Getty images, prove that Trump was present at the location.

All of this evidence establishes that the viral clip was shot when Donald Trump’s motorcade was in New York on May 20.

The verdict

Trump’s Deputy Director of Communications screenshot of the timestamp of the viral visuals and C-SPAN footage from the day confirms that the visuals are of a crowd lining up to see Trump’s motorcade in New York on May 20. Therefore, we mark the claim false.