Image of Joe Biden in MAGA hat is not authentic image from Donald Trump’s Nov. 13 White House visit

During an event commemorating the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Joe Biden briefly donned a red hat that read "Trump 2024" — a gesture of unity and bipartisanship, the White House later clarified. 

The concept seemed to have struck a chord with people, because an image of Biden wearing a different Trump hat — this time a red "Make America Great Again" hat — is circulating online following President-elect Donald Trump’s Nov. 13 White House visit. 

"#PresidentTrump just left the #WhiteHouse where he met with #PresidentBiden for an hour an a half," read a Nov. 13 Instagram post’s caption, misspelling "and." In the photo, Trump and Biden — clad in the vibrant hat — appeared to be smiling at one another while meeting in the Oval Office. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.  (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screenshot from Instagram)

We found no evidence that this photo is authentic. Biden appears to look younger in the image, suggesting it was generated by artificial intelligence.

In Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, Biden was joking with an event attendee who offered him a Trump hat. For fewer than 10 seconds, Biden accommodated the man, balancing the Trump hat over his own. The moment sparked numerous news stories and videos from news organizations including CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, the BBC, The Guardian and Reuters. 

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Since the Sept. 11 instance, however, we’ve seen no reports of Biden wearing any Trump campaign gear. We contacted the White House and received no response. 

When compared with news reports, details in the Instagram post image signal it does not depict real events. For example, the Instagram post’s fabricated image showed Biden in a red tie with thin white stripes and Trump wearing a blue- and white-striped tie. 

During Trump’s Nov. 13 visit to the White House, however, photos and video of the event show neither Biden nor Trump wearing striped ties. Biden wore a patterned tie that appeared to be a shade of purple at a distance and Trump’s tie was bright red.

We also ran the photo through a program called Hive Moderation, which helps determine whether images were generated with artificial intelligence. These programs are imperfect, but Hive Moderation concluded that the image was "99.5% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content." 

(Screenshot from Hive Moderation)

We also tested authentic images using Hive Moderation’s software, and the program concluded those images contained less than 1% inauthentic content and were unlikely to contain AI-generated content.  

We rate claims that this photo shows Biden and Trump meeting at the White House on Nov. 13 Pants on Fire!