Misleading clip of Trump appearing disoriented on White House lawn was deceptively edited

An edited video of President Trump appearing disoriented on the White House lawn has been shared widely on social media with users falsely claiming that it shows him experiencing dementia.

One description of the video, which was re-shared on Instagram, says, "Trump is lost and disoriented here. His mind goes blank and he doesn’t remember what he’s supposed to do next. He’s deep into his degenerative neurological disease — Frontotemporal dementia — mindlessly lumbering and zigzagging in the grass toward the puddle."

But the 12-second clip, which is from 2019, was deceptively edited to make it look like Trump is wandering aimlessly for no reason. He wasn’t.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

The clip is from a longer video that was captured on Aug. 7, 2019, when Trump spoke to reporters before departing on Marine One for Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, to meet with the victims and first responders of two deadly shootings that had occurred at both locations.

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The unedited version of the video provides more context, starting around the 11:40-mark, and shows the president walking away from reporters to wait for first lady Melania Trump.

Trump stands by the puddle and points at it for a moment, apparently to warn Melania not to step in the water. The couple then walk together to board the helicopter.

The clip was labeled as manipulated media on Twitter shortly after it surfaced.

We rate it False.