Fact Check: Was Donald Trump waving at no one outside Trump Tower?

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A video recording depicts former US President Donald Trump waving at nonexistent crowds while walking out of Trump Tower in New York.

On the heels of the 2024 US presidential elections, an online rumor was circulated suggesting that a video showed former President Trump "waving at no one" after stepping outside of Trump Tower in New York.

The aforementioned video was posted on Instagram with the caption, "Speaking of crowd size, here's Donald waving at no one." The caption for the video also added, "The emperor has no clothes."

The same post was also shared on Facebook on August 11, 2024.

By August 14, the post had garnered nearly 4 million views and over 34,000 shares, according to Snopes.

After due investigation, it was determined that this post and similar ones falsely alleged that the video depicted Trump "waving at no one" or "waving at nonexistent supporters."

The unedited longer video included loud cheers and a lengthier shot of a crowd standing behind barricades.

When a genuine picture or video is paired with a false or misleading description, it can be classified as "Miscaptioned."

Tracing the original video across the Internet

The video was first uploaded to the Instagram account of the progressive media outlet MeidasTouch over two months before it went viral. It included the misleading caption, "Trump Waves to Non-Existent Supporters."

It also erroneously asserted, "Trump tries to stage a propaganda video showing lots of supporters cheering for him as he leaves Trump Tower, but... nobody is there."

A reverse-image search using TinEye.com showed that the first frame of the video had been reposted by various users on Imgur.com, with some directly sharing the video from MeidasTouch.

Subsequently, a watermark visible on some of the videos showed the Instagram handle @realtoriabrooke. This user posted a longer version of the video on Instagram and X on May 23, 2024.

This user's X post credited the video to Margo Martin, who was identified in her bio as the deputy director of communications for Trump's campaign.

In essence, Margo Martin first uploaded the original and longer video on the afternoon of May 23, showing the ex-president leaving Trump Tower for a campaign rally in the South Bronx.

Furthermore, the Getty Images website contains several photos of Martin departing Trump Tower on that day, with some pictures showing her holding the phone that was presumably used to capture the video.

Donald Trump was waving at people behind barricades

As indicated in the image below, people standing behind barricades can be seen in Margo Martin's video.

Moreover, Martin's longer video had marginally better image quality than the video reposts as it underwent at least one more round of video compression.

A detailed examination of the original video revealed crowds visible behind barricades. Additionally, MeidasTouch's video excluded loud cheering from the end of the original clip.

Martin's original video was approximately four seconds longer than the edited version uploaded by MeidasTouch and featured exuberant cheers from the crowd during these additional four seconds.

Some sections of the barricades were obstructed from view by police cars and a taxi. Furthermore, faint cheering was also audibly present in the distance before the louder cheers came through.