Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' did not come from footage of South Africa
U.S. President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of a video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans.
"These are all white farmers that are being buried," said Trump, holding up a printout of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In fact, the video, published by Reuters on Feb. 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
The blog post showed to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo.
The post did not caption the image but identified it as a "YouTube screen grab" with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a query that Trump had "misidentified the image."
She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's "dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government," had "pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans."
The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty.
"That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in ... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film," Al Katanty said. "Only Reuters has video."
Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock.
"In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people," Al Katanty said.
Ramaphosa visited Washington this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies.
Trump interrupted the televised meeting with Ramaphosa to play a video, which he said showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated in far-right chat rooms for years, is based on false claims.
Trump then proceeded to flip through printed copies of articles that he said detailed murders of white South Africans, saying "death, death, death, horrible death."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: June 11, 2025
KYODO NEWS - 12 minutes ago - 09:06 | All, World, Japan The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- G7 leaders may skip joint declaration, 1st since 2014: Japan source TOKYO - The Group of Seven nations are likely to skip a joint statement at the end of an upcoming three-day summit in Canada, a Japanese government source said Tuesday, which would mark the first time since 2014 for the meeting to conclude without a consensus document. The move is apparently aimed at veiling internal divisions in the G7, known for its unity in tackling global challenges, as the leaders gather for their first in-person meeting since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. ---------- Toyota proposes selling U.S. cars in Japan to promote tariff talks NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. has proposed to the government that it sell U.S.-made cars in Japan through its domestic dealership network, the company said in an online video. The proposal is intended to support Japan's trade negotiations with the United States over President Donald Trump's tariffs. Observers said increased imports of U.S.-made cars could help narrow the large U.S. trade deficit, a source of frustration for Trump. ---------- Japan ruling bloc OKs campaigning on cash handouts in summer election TOKYO - Japan's ruling parties agreed Tuesday to include cash handouts for households hit by rising prices in their platforms for this summer's House of Councillors election, senior lawmakers said. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, unveiled its election pledges Tuesday, highlighting a proposal to suspend the 8 percent consumption tax on food for at least one year, in sharp contrast with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which opposes tax cuts. ---------- China says 2 aircraft carriers conducted combat training in Pacific BEIJING - The Chinese military said Tuesday that its two aircraft carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, carried out combat training in the Western Pacific, calling it a routine exercise and not targeted at any specific country. Japan said Monday it had spotted the two Chinese aircraft carriers operating simultaneously in the Pacific for the first time, a move that has further fueled Tokyo's concerns over Beijing's military activities. ---------- U.S. intel chief speaks out against nuclear arms after Japan visit WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday posted a video message speaking about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II and called for a world without nuclear weapons. It is very unusual for an incumbent U.S. Cabinet member to publicly voice opposition to nuclear weapons. "It's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to nuclear war and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust," Gabbard said. ---------- Ex-Mongolia leader urges Japan lawmakers to end death penalty TOKYO - A former Mongolian president known for abolishing his country's death penalty urged Japanese lawmakers in a recent interview to take the same step despite the public's continued support for executions. "If you are a good politician, (and) if there are some bad practices, you have to go ahead and change public opinion," said Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who led the move to terminate capital punishment in Mongolia in 2017 after taking the post in 2009. ---------- Japan PM's adviser to visit South Korea for 60th anniversary event TOKYO - Akihisa Nagashima, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, is planning to visit Seoul for an event next week to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-South Korea diplomatic ties, sources close to the matter said Tuesday. South Korean government officials are also expected to attend the ceremony organized by the Japanese Embassy in Seoul next Monday, with the two nations expected to affirm efforts to develop their relations and deepen friendship and cooperation, according to the sources. ---------- TEPCO tweaks plan to restart reactors at central Japan nuclear plant TOKYO - Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., whose nuclear reactors have remained offline since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, plans to revise its strategy for restarting reactors in central Japan, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. TEPCO is now preparing to restart the No. 6 unit of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex in Niigata Prefecture, one of the world's largest nuclear power plants by output capacity, aiming to finish preparations in August, they said. Video: Rite at Ise Jingu shrine to transport sacred tree
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Marines arrive in LA as tensions grow over immigration raids
Marines deployed by President Donald Trump arrived in the Los Angeles area with orders to protect federal property and officers, as the city is gripped by tensions over anti-deportation protests. Seven hundred troops from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines have made it to the greater LA area, a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command said, without disclosing their specific location. They will join about 2,100 members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who are also in the area, including in Paramount and Compton, according to the spokesperson. Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith told the Senate Armed Services Committee members on Tuesday that the deployed troops are trained in crowd control. They're equipped with "shields and batons,' but "do not have arrest authority,' he said, adding that they are there to support law enforcement, not replace it. On Monday evening, Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell warned of significant challenges to law enforcement if troops were deployed without coordination with his department, adding that that he hadn't been formally notified of the Marines arrival in advance. The department declined to comment on Tuesday. The extraordinary deployment of military forces comes after Los Angeles saw a fourth night of clashes between police and demonstrators rallying in response to increasingly aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. On Monday, largely peaceful daytime protests morphed into scattered skirmishes with police shooting less-lethal ammunition and some protesters throwing bottles. Over the previous few days, some of the demonstrations — especially at night — have been marked by violence, destruction of property, looting, blocking of freeways and the burning of vehicles, including self-driving Waymo cars. On Monday night, Los Angeles security personnel made 99 arrests during protests downtown, including 96 for failure to disperse, and one each for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and vandalism. The arrests add to the 31 made by police over the weekend. So far, the National Guard troops in the city have only been guarding federal buildings and clashes have involved the police and demonstrators. Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom have repeatedly sparred over the response to the protests, with the state suing the administration for mobilizing the National Guard and Marines in the city. Newsom has accused the administration of sending in troops without providing food or water and saying more are being sent in while hundreds sit in federal buildings without orders. Members of the clergy and other protestors place flowers at the feet of a California National Guardsman stationed outside federal buildings near the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI The president said on Tuesday that troops would remain in LA until "there's no danger' and indicated he had spoken directly with Newsom this week. "A day ago, called him up to tell him, got to do a better job,' Trump said. "He's done a bad job, causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death.' Newsom denied he spoke with Trump. "There was no call. Not even a voice mail,' the governor said in a post on X. Trump also said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to justify the use of the military in California. "I mean, I could tell you there were certain areas of Los Angeles — you could have called it an insurrection,' he said. "It was terrible. But these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers.' It was a comment the president echoed while addressing troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday, claiming protesters wearing armor and face shields are being financed by an unknown entity and that the Department of Justice will investigate. A day earlier, Trump suggested that Newsom — a Democrat widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028 — could be arrested if he interferes with the federal immigration raids or response to the unrest. Tensions remain high in the city as the immigration raids that set off the protests aren't letting up. Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat whose district covers downtown Los Angeles, said ICE enforcement actions are expected to continue seven days a week for at least 30 days. Mayor Karen Bass has said there were at least five raids on Monday. Newsom, speaking on the Pod Save America podcast released Tuesday, suggested the administration may intend to use the National Guard to support a broader immigration crackdown. "We're getting word that he's looking to operationalize that relationship and advance significantly larger-scale ICE operations in partnership and collaboration with the National Guard,' Newsom said. Protests have been limited to a few parts of a city that spreads over several hundred square miles and is connected by a web of freeways. There have been no signs of unrest in areas such as Century City, Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica that are miles away from downtown, with businesses and residents largely unaffected. Protesters face members of the California National Guard and US Customs and Border Protection agents holding up shields outside the Federal Building as people continue to protest in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI However, incidents have started to spread beyond LA, with demonstrations against ICE popping up in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington. In Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County, protesters faced off with law enforcement after immigration raids took place there. Police also clashed with protesters in Dallas and Austin late Monday, with tear gas deployed to disperse a crowd near the Texas state Capitol building. The Trump administration has argued the conditions in LA are spiraling and that federal forces are needed to support immigration agents and restore order. The active-duty Marines in LA are setting up security posts and patrolling federal property as well as forming quick-reaction teams that can reinforce sites within minutes, according to the Northern Command. They're also backing up National Guard troops in the event of large protests. The California National Guard soldiers are handling perimeter security, entry points and patrols, and supporting local agencies with medics, engineers and communications teams. Bass said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Trump administration has given her and McDonnell, the LAPD chief, little to no information about the deployment. "We aren't being told pretty much anything,' she said. A unified command being led by McDonnell includes the Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol and other local authorities and the city may impose a curfew if unrest grows, said Bass. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying before Congress on Tuesday, pushed back on criticism and said the Trump administration is seeking to protect immigration agents and keep demonstrations from getting out of control. ICE "has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed our border under the previous administration,' Hegseth said. Speaking alongside the defense secretary, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Bryn MacDonnell said the deployment is estimated to cost $134 million, which covers travel, housing and food. U.S. law generally bars the use of the active-duty U.S. military — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — from carrying out domestic law enforcement. The deployment of the Marines adds to Trump's order over the weekend that directed the U.S. Northern Command to assume control of the National Guard and dispatch them to LA. California and Newsom on Tuesday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to temporarily limit the mobilization in a way that would still let the troops physically protect federal courthouses, offices and personnel, but bar them from helping in federal law enforcement like immigration raids. In its request for an emergency order by early afternoon, attorneys for the state argued that the military deployment "creates imminent harm to state sovereignty' and "escalates tensions.' In a 22-page lawsuit filed Monday, California and Newsom accused the president of "another unprecedented power grab' and asked for the National Guard troops to be transferred from Defense Department control "back to the rightful command' of the state. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who was appointed by Bill Clinton and is the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, will oversee the case.
The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Trump says he will 'liberate' Los Angeles in speech to mark the 250th anniversary of the Army
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -- President Donald Trump called protesters in Los Angeles "animals" and "a foreign enemy" in a speech at Fort Bragg on Tuesday as he defended deploying the military on demonstrators opposed to his immigration enforcement raids and as he vowed to "liberate" the West Coast city. Trump, in his most aggressive language yet regarding the protests, used a speech ostensibly supposed to be used to recognize the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army to denounce the protesters while repeating his false statements about the 2020 election being rigged and attacking the previous commander-in-chief, former President Joe Biden. The Republican president, who sees the military as a critical tool for domestic goals, has used the recent protests in Los Angeles as an opportunity to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines over the objections of California's Democratic governor. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend in Los Angeles, but the demonstrations in the city of 4 million people have largely been centered in several blocks of downtown. "We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. That's what they are," Trump said Tuesday. Trump's heated rhetoric came as he's left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, one of the most extreme emergency powers available to the president. It authorizes him to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. Trump received plenty of cheers from the crowd, which laughed at the president's jokes and delighted in his dancing to his campaign anthem of " YMCA." However, some in the audience were uneasy with parts of his remarks. Robin Boothe, who voted for Trump and works on the base as an audiology assistant, said the speech was "classic Trump." However, she also found it to be too partisan, especially his comments on Los Angeles. "I thought that was better left for a press conference than what we were celebrating today," the 50-year-old said. The president called Los Angeles "a trash heap" with "entire neighborhoods under control" of criminals and said the federal government would "use every asset at our disposal to quell the violence and restore law and order." "We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again," Trump said. Trump authorized the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers to the city against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. About 700 Marines were deployed to the Los Angeles area but had not yet been sent to respond to the protests. Newsom asked a federal court Tuesday to block Trump from using the military in his city. California leaders accused Trump of fanning protesters' anger and stoking the unrest. Trump also announced his administration was restoring the names of seven military bases that were given the monikers of Confederate leaders until being changed by the Biden administration. Fort Pickett, Fort Robert E. Lee and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Rucker in Alabama and Fort Polk in Louisiana will have their names changed back, Trump said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already brought back the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning in Georgia. "Can you believe they changed that name in the last administration for a little bit?" Trump said. "We'll forget all about that." As they did when they changed back Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, Defense officials announced Tuesday that they had identified service members with the same last names in order to make the change and not have the bases officially carry Confederate-related names. Before he spoke, Trump watched the U.S. Army demonstrate a missile strike, a helicopter assault and a building raid, a preview of the kind of show of American military might he's expected to display in the nation's capital for a massive military parade this weekend. Trump has promoted the Army's anniversary as a reason to hold the parade on Saturday, which is also his 79th birthday. Tanks and other vehicles will roll down city streets in a reminder of how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces after returning to the White House this year. "I think it's going to be great," Trump told reporters at the White House earlier Tuesday. "We're going to celebrate our country for a change." As a backdrop to the parade, "No Kings Day" protests are planned across the country on Saturday to push back against what critics see as the administration's draconian policies. Trump said earlier Tuesday that there would be more immigration raids and that any additional protests would be met with even greater force. Fort Bragg, which was briefly Fort Liberty and is located near Fayetteville, North Carolina, serves as headquarters for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Highly trained units like the Green Berets and the 82nd Airborne are based there. The atmosphere resembled a state fair with military flair. Inflatable slides and attractions for children were set up in a field, with artillery, trucks and helicopters parked on another section of the lawn. Right outside the security checkpoint -- but still on the base -- two stands were selling Trump political hats, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll were also at Tuesday's event, along with service members, veterans and their families. Driscoll, who spoke to the crowd before Trump arrived, called the president "the greatest recruiter in our Army's history." Hegseth told the crowd that the U.S. is "restoring the warrior ethos" to its armed forces. "We're not a college or a university. We're not interested in your woke garbage and political correctness," Hegseth said, drawing cheers.
