Fact Check: Is viral audio of Trump saying ‘not releasing’ Epstein files to his Cabinet accurate?

WASHINGTON, DC: News involving Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein has been dominating headlines and social media. Recently, an audio clip surfaced, featuring a Trump-like voice claiming he would block the release of Epstein documents to the cabinet.

The audio originally appeared on TikTok and has since circulated widely on social media, fueling numerous speculations.

To understand how much of the claim is true, we looked deeper into the situation. Here’s what we found.

How did Trump’s audio about 'not releasing' Epstein files spread across social media?

On social media, an audio clip of a Trump-like voice saying he would “not release the Epstein files” quickly went viral. It first gained traction on TikTok before spreading to X (formerly Twitter). In the audio, a voice allegedly says, “If I go down, I will bring all of you down with me.”

After being shared on X, the clip made its way back to Instagram and Facebook, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments. Left-leaning users have helped amplify the clip, which appears to have originally been posted by a liberal TikTok account.

Fact check: Trump never said anything about blocking the release of Epstein files

To clear up the confusion, Trump has not made any statement about restricting the release of Epstein files to the Cabinet. The audio clip in question was first posted by a liberal TikTok user.

According to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, the audio appears to be AI-generated. The vocal texture and certain in the audio indicate it was created using Sora (OpenAI’s text-to-video model). 

The clip was later shared in other videos that removed Sora’s watermark, making it harder to detect its AI origins. The false narrative spread so widely that many viewers could not distinguish between what was real and what was fabricated.

On the other hand, no reputable media outlet, including BBC News, Fox News, Mediaite, New York Post, Washington Post, Daily Beast, People or TMZ, has reported that Trump made such statements. In fact, Trump has signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which allows the House to make these files accessible to the public. 

Previously, similar fake stories circulated claiming Trump wanted to block Epstein files and that failing to do so could cause national crises. Now, Grok has denied the claims. 

Before sharing or reacting to stories about Trump, especially about the Epstein files, make sure they are real. Not everything online can be trusted.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online