Does the viral picture of Jeffrey Epstein, Melania Trump and Donald Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller document a real-life scene and come from a "newly leaked" "Epstein file"? No, that's not true: It displays a barely visible satire label. The image is not a real photo: A missing finger on the hand of the supposed Melania Trump suggests that the picture is a product of generative AI.
The claim appeared in a July 24, 2025 Threads post (archived here). It shared an image of what seemed to be Jeffrey Epstein hugging Melania Trump, with an out-of-focus Stephen Miller in the background. The lower banner in the picture read:
BREAKING NEWSNEWLY LEAKED EPSTEIN FILE PHOTO SURFACES, PROMPTING TRUMP TO TRIPLE DOWN ON INSANE CONSPIRACY THEORIES:'THIS PROVES OBAMA IS GUILTY! HE OBVIOUSLY TOOK THIS PHOTO!"
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Image source: screenshot of the @dawnnicole11 post on threads.com)
What could have been mistaken for a screenshot from a live broadcast had a small "SATIRE" label in the bottom right corner just above the chyron. Next to it, there was a watermark that read "The MeMe War Veteran":
(Image source: screenshot of the @dawnnicole11 post on threads.com)
The image was likely created by AI. If one looks closely, the chin of the alleged Melania Trump appears to be unnaturally dislocated to the side, breaking the facial symmetry:
(Image source: screenshot of the @dawnnicole11 post on threads.com)
But the most apparent sign strongly pointing to AI is Melania's pinky finger, either partially missing or strangely blending into the blue fabric:
(Image source: screenshot of the @dawnnicole11 post on threads.com)
Melania Trump used to wear darker hair shades earlier in life (archived here), before becoming the First Lady. Her official portrait (archived here), taken in 2017 during the first Donald Trump administration, clearly shows that years later, she still had both pinky fingers.
