Trump posts AI deepfake video of Schumer and Jeffries
President Trump posted an AI-generated deepfake video to social media depicting Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries making false, vulgar statements denigrating their own party, with racist imagery including Jeffries depicted wearing a sombrero. Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake and other observers criticized the post as inappropriate.", "event_date": "2025-09-30", "facts": [ { "claim": "Trump posted an AI-generated video to X and Truth Social on September 30, 2025, depicting Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries with an AI-generated voice attributed to Schumer making vulgar criticisms of Democrats.", "source_url": "https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/were-better-than-this-ex-gop-senator-scorches-fellow-republicans-over-trumps-ai-video-of-schumer-and-jeffries/" }, { "claim": "In the video, Jeffries is depicted wearing a sombrero and mustache, a racist reference to Mexican immigrants, while circus music plays in the background.", "source_url": "https://newrepublic.com/post/201097/republican-senator-marshall-trump-racist-video-democrats-schumer-jeffries" }, { "claim": "Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake posted criticism of the video, stating 'C'mon, fellow Republicans, we're better than this' in response to Trump's post.", "source_url": "https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/were-better-than-this-ex-gop-senator-scorches-fellow-republicans-over-trumps-ai-video-of-schumer-and-jeffries/" }, { "claim": "Trump posted the video shortly after meeting with Senator Schumer and Minority Leader Jeffries about the potential government shutdown.", "source_url": "https://newrepublic.com/post/201097/republican-senator-marshall-trump-racist-video-democrats-schumer-jeffries" } ] }
What happened
Trump posted an AI-generated deepfake video to X and Truth Social on September 30, 2025, depicting Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries.
In the video, an AI-generated voice attributed to Schumer contains vulgar language criticizing Democrats, and Jeffries is depicted wearing a sombrero and mustache. Circus music plays in the background.
Reported impact
Former GOP Senator Jeff Flake criticized the post, stating 'C'mon, fellow Republicans, we're better than this' in response to the video.
The video contained racist imagery referencing Mexican immigrants and derogatory statements about immigrants, people of color, and transgender people.
Index analysis
The deepfake technology created a false impersonation of Democratic leaders making defamatory statements about their own party and policy positions.
The video was designed to ridicule and demean the Democratic leaders through fabricated statements and racist visual imagery.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.