How AI, an old video and road closures fueled Easter weekend rumors about President Trump’s health

Some people spent Easter weekend looking for eggs with their families. And some speculated on social media that President Donald Trump’s health had taken a turn for the worse.

There is no evidence Trump was sick or hospitalized over the weekend. But social media users resurrected old outdated video and an image generated by artificial intelligence to support the claim.

"Trump" and "Walter Reed," the military hospital in Maryland where presidents are treated, were mentioned together 112,390 times across X, Bluesky, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook and Threads posts from March 30 to April 6, according to data from the social media monitoring tool Rolli IQ. People collectively engaged with the posts more than 1.2 million times.

Trump made no public appearances from April 2 through April 5. On Monday, April 6, he attended the White House Easter Egg Roll and spoke to reporters at a press conference. Still,  there were signs he was working at the White House when his public calendar was dark. A CBS reporter noted April 4 that a Marine sentry had been stationed at the West Wing entrance, an indication the president was inside. 

In response to some X posts that questioned the president’s whereabouts over the weekend, the administration denied hospitalization rumors, saying Trump was working to rescue an Air Force officer whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran. 

Trump was also active online. On Easter morning, he published a profanity-laced Truth Social post threatening further violence in Iran, signing it with a flourish: "Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

But this fueled further speculation about Trump’s health. 

"The President is exhibiting all the signs of dementia," MS Now senior medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta wrote on X. (Trump has not been publicly diagnosed with dementia.)

Here’s how the rumor of Trump’s declining health gained traction.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participate in the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

Social media users spread an unsupported claim that roads were closed around Walter Reed

In the early hours of April 4, Bluesky and Threads users claimed that the main road to Walter Reed was "blocked off."

By midday, left-leaning commentator Ed Krassenstein amplified these rumors, posting on X: "BREAKING: Speculation is rising that Donald Trump is at Walter Reed Medical Center." His post had 14.2 million views as of April 6.

Another social media user scrutinized April 4 Washington, D.C., road closures alongside the White House’s announcement that Trump would have no further public appearances that day.

"What’s going on with the president?" the X post said.

But the road closure evidence was misguided. The Metropolitan Police Department previously announced the parking restrictions and street closures because of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, PetalPalooza. Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Department of Police told PolitiFact they were not informed of road closures around and leading to the hospital. 

Naval Support Activity Bethesda, which hosts Walter Reed and provides alerts on gate closures, issued no such weekend alerts. When asked about the claims, Walter Reed’s communications office directed PolitiFact to the White House and the Montgomery County Police Department.

Also on April 4, Krassentein’s twin brother, Brian, mused about the rumors and posted a photo showing discoloration on Trump’s hand. The image was taken in August 2025, not long after the White House announced that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can cause leg swelling but is typically not life-threatening.

Other social media users added an out-of-context video and an AI-generated photo to the mix of Easter weekend rumors about Trump’s health. "There are some reports, some speculation and unconfirmed info coming in that Trump has been taken to Walter Reed Hospital," one X post read, sharing a video of a motorcade with sirens sounding. The post gained 8.1 million views as of April 6.

The video was old, taken July 13, 2024, near Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, following an assassination attempt on Trump during a campaign rally in Butler.

Another image posted April 5 gained 1 million views on X and showed Trump supposedly "struggling" to get up stairs. "What’s wrong with Trump," asked another X post sharing the same image.

But that picture isn’t real. It contained SynthID, a type of watermark embedded into creations of Google’s AI tools. The watermark is invisible to humans but detectable by Google’s technology.

Social media users used Trump’s lack of public events as evidence 

Although Trump had no public appearances following his April 1 address to the nation, his schedule wasn’t blank. On April 2 and April 3, his calendar showed, he signed executive orders and had scheduled policy meetings. His Truth Social account remained active, including posts announcing Trump’s firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

On April 4, the White House called a "lid" on the day at 11:08 a.m., a term that signifies it will hold no more public announcements or events. 

Still, The White House responded to posts noting Trump’s lack of public events.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said on X April 4 that Trump had been "working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him."

On April 5, Trump went to the Trump National Golf Club, where Getty photographer Tasos Katopodis took a photo of Trump seated in a vehicle reading something on his phone.

Several journalists reported speaking with Trump over the phone. The White House called a "lid" at 12:22.

According to his schedule, he planned to join a 7 p.m. Easter dinner with family.