Does a viral video show high-resolution "unedited raw security footage" of the suspected shooter running through a checkpoint at the 2026 White House Correspondents' dinner? No, that's not true: The video was enhanced with AI, and, in the process, the technology altered the details. The clip showed glitches typical of AI-generated content, and the account that first published it confirmed that the video was not the original, unedited footage.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on Facebook on April 26, 2026. It read:
🚨Unedited raw security footage of the WHCD front entrance to the lobby where the suspect ran through. Thoughts?
This is what the thumbnail from the video shared in the post on Facebook looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
The CCTV footage of the suspect running through the security checkpoint located one floor above the ballroom, where the White House Correspondents' dinner was taking place, was first published (archived here) by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social shortly after the incident. It showed a recording of what appeared on security monitors:
(Image source: post by @realDonaldTrump on Truth Social.)
The viral version of it displayed a much better quality, but its top left corner showed the CapCut AI watermark:
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
The video showed several inconsistencies characteristic of AI.
One example is gibberish on the agent's back in the bottom left corner:
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
Another example is the headwear worn by the man in the middle of the frame. At first, it's a cap, but seconds later it becomes a hat:
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
One more artifact suggesting the presence of AI appeared in the background: One agent appeared to be kneeling in front of another agent for no obvious reason, both apparently on duty:
(Image source: post by @FAFOPodcast on Facebook.)
The video posted by Trump did not show any of that.
The person who uploaded the seemingly better-quality version of the CCTV footage on social media wrote on X (archived here) later that day:
I enhanced the security footage from last nights [sic] assassination attempt using AI. The footage was extremely low quality and it seems AI made up some things to fill in the gaps, but gives a better view of what took place.
When Lead Stories tested the video's thumbnail with the ZeroGPT AI image detection tool, the tool confirmed that it was digitally edited:
(Image source: ZeroGPT.)
