Fact Check: Is video of Trump showing Laura Ingraham 'Cardboard Ayatollah' real?
WASHINGTON, DC: In March 2026, following Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death after the US and Israeli forces launched joint airstrikes, his son Mojtaba Khamenei was named as the new successor.
Recently, a clip went viral online purportedly depicting President Donald Trump showing Fox News host Laura Ingraham a framed image of the 'Cardboard Ayatollah' behind some drapes in the Oval Office. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Trump showed Laura Ingraham 'Cardboard Ayatollah' in Oval Office
Multiple X accounts shared a video purportedly depicting Donald Trump showing Laura Ingraham a framed image of the 'Cardboard Ayatollah' in the Oval Office. The 'Cardboard Ayatollah' was a depiction of Khamenei made of cardboard.
The caption of a post read, "Honestly. I haven’t stopped laughing", while another X user who shared the clip wrote, "LMFAO! President Trump shows off the 'carboard Ayatollah' at the White House. 'It's very cool...'. 'Oh my gosh.' 'Isn't that great? Just went up yesterday. Wow!'"
Honestly. I haven’t stopped laughing. pic.twitter.com/0vW3fWMWDG
— Kosher (@koshercockney) March 11, 2026
Ayatollah Khamenei was killed on February 28 at the age of 86 during joint US-Israeli airstrikes targeting high-ranking Iranian officials in Tehran. The airstrike was part of a broader military operation involving precision strikes, with intelligence support from the US Central Intelligence Agency.
🚨 LMFAO! President Trump shows off the "carboard Ayatollah" at the White House
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 11, 2026
"It's very cool..."
"Oh my gosh."
"Isn't that great? Just went up yesterday. Wow!" 😭😂pic.twitter.com/00Xvergjop
Khamenei's death marked the end of his 36-year rule and triggered immediate succession processes in Iran.
Fact Check: False, clip edited using AI tools
The claims made in the online posts are not true, as the clip shared online is not real and was edited using AI tools. The original Fox News clip showed Donald Trump revealing a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence to Ingraham.
The handles of two X accounts - @GizmoMemes and @BasedRose - had been added to the fake Fox News chyron at the bottom of the footage. Tracing back those handles showed that the source of the altered video was the @GizmoMemes X account.
Trump shows Laura Ingraham the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office.pic.twitter.com/NB3XaQz0QN
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) March 19, 2025
The original, unedited clip, which featured the Declaration of Independence, was aired in a March 20, 2025, episode of Laura Ingraham's show on Fox News.
During the episode, where Trump gave Ingraham a tour of the Oval Office, the POTUS unveiled a framed copy of the document from behind some drapes.
Interestingly, the audio and video in both clips were the same, apart from the 'Cardboard Ayatollah' replacing the Declaration.
Furthermore, the 'Cardboard Ayatollah' image seemed to have come from a video purporting to show Iranian officials displaying a cardboard cutout of Khamenei to Iranians, which was an AI-generated parody of a video of officials.
