Did a video authentically show Rogan O'Handley, Chaya Raichik, Scott Presler, Liz Wheeler, Chad Prather and other people holding "Epstein Files" binders dancing a little jig while exiting the White House? No, that's not true: An AI detection tool found the video "suspicious" and it contained several oddities that point to an AI origin. The video appears to be based on a real photo of an event that did take place but no dancing was reported in news stories about it.
The video appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on February 27, 2027 with a caption that read:
I don't think the impromptu dancing jig was really appropriate at this moment.
This is what the video looked like:
I don't think the impromptu dancing jig was really appropriate at this moment. pic.twitter.com/tibAnjybDl
-- Justin Hart (@justin_hart) February 27, 2025
The events in the video are partially based on an actual event. According to a story from CBS News on February 27, 2025 (archived here):
A group of 15 right-wing influencers visited the White House on Thursday and emerged with binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" that they obtained from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has vowed to release information held by the Justice Department about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
...
Liz Wheeler, who was seen leaving the White House, went live on X later in the day to describe the binder and flip through its contents. She said that while people are looking for new information related to the Epstein case, "that's not what's in" the folder. Most of the pages that Wheeler showed were from Epstein's address book, which has long been public, with addresses redacted.
Jessica Reed Kraus, another influencer, wrote in an Instagram post that Bondi personally delivered the documents to the group in a meeting that President Trump joined. Wheeler wrote that FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance were also in attendance.
A total of 15 influencers were on hand for the meeting, according to Kraus. Others included conspiracy promoter Jack Posobiec, election denier Scott Presler and Rogan O'Handley and Chaya Raichik, the people behind the accounts DC_Draino and LibsofTikTok, respectively.
The story also contained a Getty Images photo (archived here) that was described in the caption as:
(From L) Political commentator Rogan O'Handley, aka DC Draino, TikToker Chaya Raichik, commentator Liz Wheeler and US conservative activist Scott Presler carry binders bearing the seal of the US Justice Department reading "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" as they walk out of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 27, 2025. The Trump administration has said it would release documents on late tycoon and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
An AI detection tool at Deepware rated the video "suspicious" in one of its tests, giving it a 55 percent chance of being a deepfake:
(Screenshot of Deepware results taken by Lead Stories on February 28, 2025 at 7:50:54 ETC)
The video also contained several oddities that point to the conclusion it was artificially generated, such as a stack of hats in someone's hand changing into documents, a document disappearing from someone's hand in mid air as they hold it up and another stack of hats transforming into something that looks like a set of fanned out papers.
(Image source: collage made by Lead Stories on February 28, 2025 at 7:57:32 UTC)
Lead Stories searched Google news for stories mentioning "Epstein files" and "dancing" (archived here) and found no reporting about any dancing going on.
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Epstein can be found here.
