Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
Claim
A WhatsApp forward claims that the President of the United States of America Donald Trump has been tested positive for COVID-19.
Fact Check
A video, purportedly to be from global media outlet FOX News has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts across various social media platforms claiming that the US President Trump has been tested positive for coronavirus.
In the 11-second long viral clip, FOX News anchor can be heard saying that “the White House medical team confirming President Trump has been confirmed positive for coronavirus.”
We discovered that the video is massively being shared on Facebook and WhatsApp groups. Several readers sent the footage to Newschecker’s WhatsApp helpline number for verification.
As we began fact-checking the claim, we looked for media reports backing the claim, but we did not find any authentic information to corroborate the same. However, during our search, we found several global media reports about one of Trump’s valet being tested positive for coronavirus.
According to a report by CNN, a member of the US Navy who serves as one of President Donald Trump’s valets has been tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about the President’s possible exposure to the virus.
Another media outlet, Outlook India, states that President Donald Trump has begun taking hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a frontline defense after his valet and Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for COVID-19.
We now started looking for the bulletin of FOX News, which is going viral on social media. We were able to ascertain the longer version of the bulletin on the FOX News official YouTube Channel with the help of relevant keywords.
The caption of the video uploaded on May 7, 2020, reads, Trump valet tests positive for COVID-19. When we listened to the video carefully, it nowhere matches the video doing rounds on social media.
Here is what FOX News anchor said: White House medical team confirming that a valet to President Trump has confirmed positive for coronavirus. White House has put out a statement saying that the President and Vice President both have been tested and were found negative for the coronavirus and are in good health. According to the FOX reporter, a US Navy member, who serves as President Donald Trump’s personal valet, has been tested positive. The FOX News also published the article on its website, mentioning the same details. We found that neither the anchor nor the reporter says that President Trump is tested positive for COVID-19.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-valet-tests-positive-for-coronavirus
We also compared the viral video and the video uploaded by FOX News on its official channel. Below is the comparison between both the videos.The word ‘Valet’ has been both edited from the news ticker and audio of the clip, uploaded on FOX News’s official YouTube channel.
When we watched the video carefully, the first frame of the video remains freeze for nine seconds. Even a glitch sound can be heard before FOX News anchor says, President Trump which confirms that the video has been edited purposely to spread misinformation.
Conclusion
It is evident from our fact check that a video viral on social media claiming that US President Donald Trump has been tested positive for coronavirus is misleading. The video has been edited to spread misinformation.
Tools Used
- Google Reverse Image Search
- Google Search
- Media Reports
- YouTube Search
Result: Misleading
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Authors
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.
