Footage shared by Donald Trump to boast of Venezuelans taking to the streets en masse to celebrate his ouster of Nicolás Maduro is actually from an unrelated 2024 demonstration.
Trump, 79, announced on Saturday that Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, had been captured in Caracas after a military operation led by the Delta Force, the elite special operations unit of the U.S. Army.
Facing criticism for not having won congressional clearance for the move, the president amplified footage on Truth Social presented as scenes of people celebrating in the South American country after Maduro was taken into U.S. custody two days earlier.
The clip was overlayed with an X post by conservative influencer David J. Harris Jr. that proclaims: “INCREDIBLE! Millions of Venezuelans are celebrating the news of the collapse of the Maduro regime!” Trump reposted the video from his own account, where it showed hundreds of reposts and thousands of likes.
But open-source verification proved it to be a sham. In a fact-check, BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh said the video—also shared by InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones—actually showed anti-Maduro protests in July 2024 following a disputed election.
Sardarizadeh pointed to the original Instagram upload, which is labeled “Avenida Francisco de Miranda, Caracas” and timestamped “30/07/2024 – 3:00 pm.”
Trump’s announcement on Saturday of the pre-dawn raid in Caracas led to a surge of mis- and disinformation, with WIRED reporting that old footage and AI-generated content raced across major platforms in the hours that followed.
Maduro and Flores have been brought to New York to face charges of “narcoterrorism,” tied to the alleged trafficking of tons of cocaine into the United States. Maduro was scheduled to appear before a federal judge Monday to be formally notified of the charges against him.
In the wake of Maduro’s capture, the Trump administration has sent mixed messages on its plans for Venezuela. At Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. would “run the country” during a transition. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to walk that back, insisting the administration would only be “running policy” and using sanctions and oil leverage—not handling day-to-day governance.
Hours later, Trump doubled down again aboard Air Force One, telling reporters: “We’re in charge.” The lack of clarity has fueled questions about what, exactly, Trump’s endgame is—and if he even knows.
As it stands, Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, 56, to assume the presidency on an interim basis, with the court framing the move as “temporary” to preserve “administrative continuity.”
She has already signaled a softer tone toward Washington—calling for a “balanced and respectful” relationship and inviting U.S. collaboration under international law.
The Daily Beast has also repeatedly documented Trump turning to misleading—or outright fabricated—clips as social-media fodder.
In July last year, Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting Barack Obama being arrested, and then in September he posted—and subsequently deleted—an AI “medbeds” fantasy clip dressed up like a TV news segment. He has also boosted misleading posts from impersonators, including a fake Karoline Leavitt account he repeatedly reshared.
The White House was contacted for comment by the Daily Beast.
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