Trump used photos from wrong country as evidence of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa
President Donald Trump shared photos from news articles this week when he forcefully confronted South Africa’s president in the Oval Office with baseless claims that white farmers are being systemically killed.
As he leafed through printouts to underscore his point, he said South Africa’s white farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.” Trump was unmoved when South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed back and said “that is not government policy” and “we are completely opposed to that.”
“These are all white farmers that are being buried,” Trump said as he held up an article with a photo.
But reports have since revealed that the photo Trump showed as evidence – a screenshot of a Reuters video – was not filmed in South Africa.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a printed article from “American Thinker” while accusing South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa of state-sanctioned violence against white farmers in South Africa during a press availability in the Oval Office at
Fact-checking Trump’s ‘white genocide’ claims
What we know:
Reuters confirmed the screen shot was from a video Reuters published on Feb. 3 showing humanitarian workers with body bags in Goma, Congo following deadly conflicts with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The video was verified by Reuters’ fact-checking team.
READ MORE: Ex-FBI Chief James Comey being investigated over Trump social media post
The blog printout Trump showed to South Africa’s president during the contentious meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine. The blog post credited the photo as a “YouTube screen grab” with a link to a Reuters video news report about Congo.
What we don’t know:
The White House has not responded to questions about Trump using the wrong photo.
What they’re saying:
Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty, who filmed the video that Trump used to make false claims, said he was shocked to see Trump using his footage.
“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 told Reuters.
Why is Trump targeting South Africa?
The backstory:
Trump, since his return to office, has launched a series of false accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government.
Trump has falsely accused the South African government of rights violations against white Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law. No land has been seized and the South African government has pushed back, saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.
The Trump administration’s references to the Afrikaner people — who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers — have also elevated previous claims made by Trump’s South African-born adviser Elon Musk and some conservative U.S. commentators that the South African government is allowing attacks on white farmers in what amounts to a genocide.
President Trump confronts South African president
President Donald Trump met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office Wednesday. During the meeting, Trump showed Ramaphosa a video over claims of white genocide in South Africa.
Trump has already cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country.
RELATED: Only about one-third of American adults have a favorable opinion of Elon Musk
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted for their race, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country with a high crime rate.
Ramaphosa visited the White House this week in an attempt to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.
