Purported AI-Generated Video Reportedly Depicts Trump Criticizing Former Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua

In late January and early February 2025, a video circulated on Facebook purporting to show U.S. President Donald Trump calling former Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua a "criminal" and criticizing his alleged misuse of AI. However, fact-checkers have reported the video was AI-generated. The footage appears to have been manipulated from Trump's inauguration speech on January 20, 2025, with reported mismatched lip movements and audio overlays.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.1 Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale

The deepfake video was created and circulated on Facebook to influence public opinion and manipulate political discourse surrounding the Ruto-Gachagua political rivalry in Kenya.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.1 False or misleading information: The AI-generated video fabricated statements from Donald Trump, spreading false information to social media users.
• 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation: The deepfake targeted Gachagua specifically, using Trump's likeness to defame and humiliate him in the context of local political rivalries.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by a human actor intentionally using a deployed AI deepfake generation tool to create and distribute misleading political content.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The report describes an 'AI-generated video' or 'deepfake' which falls under the category of AI systems that require specific transparency obligations to ensure users are informed that the content is synthetic.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Voice Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: unknown
• Alleged harmed parties: United States-Kenya relations, Rigathi Gachagua, Kenyan political discourse, General public of Kenya, Donald Trump

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation and spread of a malicious deepfake video on Facebook.

Directly caused: The incident directly involved the creation of a deepfake video where Donald Trump's likeness was used to call Rigathi Gachagua an 'idiot', 'criminal', and 'lunatic'.

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that thousands of Facebook users in Kenya were exposed to this toxic and defamatory content before it was flagged by fact-checkers.

Democracy

Reported: Yes, the report describes the use of deepfakes to influence political discourse and supremacy battles in Kenya.

Directly caused: The deepfake video sought to manipulate public perception of Kenyan political figures by fabricating statements from the US President.

Inferred additional harm: The proliferation of such political deepfakes can erode trust in democratic institutions, political processes, and authentic media coverage in Kenya.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the spread of a fabricated video that misled social media users.

Directly caused: The video fabricated a speech by Donald Trump, falsely claiming he condemned Gachagua and called him a criminal.

Inferred additional harm: The incident contributes to the broader erosion of shared truth and public consensus, making it harder for citizens to distinguish real political speeches from synthetic fabrications.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 2

Potential causes

Technology

• Advanced Deepfake Generation: AI tools allow easy creation of realistic public figure impersonations.
• Imperfect Lip-Sync Algorithms: Visible artifacts like unsynced lips and distorted microphone tips.

Data Inputs

• Misused Authentic Video Footage: Real footage of Trump's inauguration speech was used to generate deepfake.

Human Factors

• Political Supremacy Battles: Rivalry between Ruto and Gachagua incentivizes spreading disinformation.
• Social Media Sharing Behavior: Users spread unverified manipulated content across social platforms.

Process and Methods

• Ineffective Platform Screening: Social media platforms let deepfakes circulate without automated flagging.

Regulatory Environment

• Unregulated AI Manipulation: Lack of legal frameworks to prevent malicious political deepfakes.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report from Africa Check is highly detailed, providing clear context about the political situation in Kenya, the specific claims made in the deepfake, and the technical clues (lip-sync issues, microphone movement) used to identify the manipulation. There is no ambiguity about the fact that the video is a deepfake.

A deepfake video of US President Donald Trump was used to target Kenyan politician Rigathi Gachagua amidst domestic political tensions. The incident represents a minor national security impact, characterized as an established information warfare tactic with low technical sophistication that was quickly mitigated by fact-checking organizations.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Multiple nations
• Primary target: Kenya
• Other affected: United States
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The specific incident has been resolved and debunked by fact-checkers, representing an ongoing strategic concern regarding synthetic media rather than an immediate crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI deepfake generation tools were directly operated by human creators to produce specific, targeted content.
• Novelty: Established threat. The use of deepfakes to impersonate world leaders and manipulate foreign political environments is a well-documented and frequently occurring threat.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. The incident did not involve any physical systems, critical infrastructure, kinetic threats, or safety risks to human life.
• Information security: Minor. The incident involved a political disinformation campaign using synthetic media. However, the deepfake was low-quality, easily debunked by fact-checkers, and did not compromise intelligence capabilities or classified systems.
• Sovereignty: Minor. The deepfake targeted a Kenyan political figure during an active domestic rivalry, representing an attempt to manipulate political discourse, but it did not disrupt core government operations or constitutional processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. There was no impact on financial systems, critical supply chains, or strategic technological competitive advantages.
• Societal stability: Minor. While the video aimed to exploit existing political tensions in Kenya, it did not lead to large-scale civil unrest, systemic human rights violations, or widespread societal instability.