Trump Edits Melania Out of Weird AI Photo—but Leaves in an Aide

President Donald Trump posted an apparently AI-generated image of himself with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday where everyone else appears to have been removed—except, perhaps, for Natalie Harp.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared an image of him stoically saluting, standing beside a freshly arrived Xi on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. A military jet flies overhead.

But when compared to actual video footage of the event, there are some strange differences.

In one video, Trump and Xi appeared to be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan. In the photo, however, the men appear to be standing alone, with the women either completely obscured or removed entirely.

Despite the omission of the two first ladies, the image Trump posted included another woman: Monica Crowley, the U.S. chief of protocol, who shard multiple images of herself at the event.

There was widespread speculation that Crowley was actually Trump’s ever-present assistant Natalie Harp lurking in the background with her hand over her heart. It’s not clear whether Harp was in attendance at Xi’s arrival.

There are other notable details about the heavily edited image. In reality, Trump did not remain steely throughout the military flyover, but winced in pain at the loud noise from the B-1 heavy bomber overhead.

Trump also wore a winter coat and black gloves to receive Xi, despite the rather temperate weather in Washington, D.C. In the image, however, Trump appears to be wearing only one glove. Behind him, the military display appears to have been morphed into a row of strange, alien-like figures.

This story has been updated.

One of the stories the White House cited to justify its ban on Politico, MS NOW, and CNN had Vice President JD Vance as its main source.

The Washington Post reports that during a press call in June, the Trump administration invited news outlets to a briefing where a White House aide told participants, “The contents of this call are on background, attributable to a senior administration official. By remaining on the line, you agree to those terms. There is no embargo for the contents of the call.”

That senior administration official was none other than Vance, who told the media outlets on the call that a peace agreement with Iran was “80, 85 percent” done. Politico published an article with the quote attributed to a senior administration official—only for the White House to later claim in court, “Publication of sensitive security information, and misinformation about national security information, diverts White House resources and those of the national security team in particular.”

“The spread of misinformation, especially relating to national security, is a threat that undermines the President’s ability to safeguard the national security,” the White House wrote in a letter submitted to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Status News reports that multiple news agencies were on that call and they all granted Vance anonymity in exchange for the information. Vance said on Monday that he supported banning Politico and other outlets, calling President Trump’s decision “totally appropriate.”

“If you actually look at the objective analysis, Politico is as anti-Trump as Breitbart was anti-Obama or anti-Biden,” Vance said. “They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get the public reports. They can still, of course, talk to people in the administration and outside the administration.”

But the administration’s complaint about anonymously sourced news reports compromising national security rings hollow with this revelation. It’s overwhelmingly likely that Vance isn’t the only “senior administration official” who has delivered information to the press in this way. A judge lifted the ban late Wednesday night, but the White House still barred CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters from White House grounds Thursday morning. That, plus the news about Vance, is likely to further undermine the administration’s legal defense for its attack on the free press.

The White House on Thursday continued denying CNN, MS NOW, and Politico access to the White House, even after Trump-appointed District Court Judge Timothy Kelly struck down the president’s sweeping ban late Wednesday night. All three outlets said they had reporters who were denied entry to the White House premises, and no reason was given for the refusal.

Kelly’s temporary restraining order gives access back to Politico, MS NOW, and CNN after they filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Trump administration. While the administration’s lawyers tried to justify the ban on national security grounds, Kelly wasn’t buying it.

“The Court is skeptical—at least on this record—that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes.… Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” he wrote in his decision. “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House—instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”

Trump apparently saw this decision coming, opining about Kelly’s commitment to judicial ethics on Truth Social and promising to appeal the decision the day the lawsuit was filed.

“As expected, Fake News CNN, Politico … and MSNOW (formerly known as MSDNC!), have brought suit to gain access to the White House, and your President, ME! They have drawn a great Judge, for them.… The Judge’s name is Tim Kelly, and he was, sadly, appointed by ‘TRUMP,’” the president wrote. “In other words, almost without question and, as usual, we’ll go for appeal because Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World.”

This story has been updated.

Executives from America’s leading artificial intelligence firms are urging the United Nations to set global regulations for their burgeoning tech.

Both Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified before the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, imploring the international conference to police the industry before it grows out of control.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” said Amodei.

Altman explained that he believed there were two ways that AI progress could go “very badly” for humanity.

“First, we could lose control of the future to AI,” said the ChatGPT creator. “The risk is that it moves so fast that people can no longer follow what’s happening or intervene when needed.”

The other risk, Altman said, was that AI could unjustly concentrate power within a small cadre of people.

“No one person, or company, or country should be able to use the most powerful AI models to impose their worldview on everyone else,” he continued. “A company or country that believes only it can be trusted with this technology, can use that belief to justify almost anything else. We have to eject that logic even when it’s convenient.”

Yet that’s not how the U.S. president has approached the issue. Donald Trump has insisted that the U.S. dominate the technology, convinced that it will be the “Greatest Economic Development Engine in History,” and has been dismissive of Silicon Valley’s myriad warnings.

Trump has a lot to politically—and personally—gain from championing AI. Days into his second term, the president unveiled a $500 billion public-private venture to support AI development. The project was dubbed Stargate and backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, an AI investment firm owned by the United Arab Emirates.

Trump’s 2026 financial disclosures also revealed that he’s invested a sizable sum in tech companies pursuing AI projects, spending millions of dollars on stock purchases for Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet.

But Trump’s opinion on the matter is seriously at odds with that of the American public. Recent polling indicates that the vast majority of Americans, including Republicans, have no interest in permitting the tech industry to build AI facilities in their backyards. An August survey published by Heatmap revealed that 75 percent of the public oppose data center development in their communities.

And the rumors of AI’s deadly potential have some bite to them: Tech experts and European leaders are treating the concept of “killer robots” as more fact than fiction.

A woman had her microphone turned off and was dragged away mid-sentence while speaking out against Flock cameras at a City Council meeting in Springfield, Missouri.

Dozens of residents attended the Monday meeting regarding a resolution to review the city’s use of automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, cameras—the majority of which are operated by the controversial Flock surveillance company. The city council voted 5–3 to advance the legislation, and the citizens present were asked to leave without having the chance to publicly comment, leading many of them to boo and protest as they were ushered out. One man was arrested.

Springfield resident Mia Heider later attempted to voice her opposition to Flock to Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag at a different point in the council meeting.

“Hello, my name is Mia Heider. I’m a Springfield, Missouri, constituent, and I’m here to oppose the usage of ALPR cameras, most commonly made by Flock Safety,” she said. “These cameras are not just surveillance—”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Schrag said, interrupting Heider. She held up two middle fingers at him and continued while a law enforcement officer approached her.

“They are an invasion of our privacy,” she said. The officer then grabbed her and placed her under arrest. Schrag concluded the council meeting immediately after.

The other Springfield resident arrested at the meeting was freelance photographer Noah Powell.

“Well I said: ‘Jeff Schrag is a cuck.’ I said: ‘Fuck you Jeff.’ I said: ‘Worthless’ and then, also, the final thing I said was: ‘Jeff Schrag has a tiny, stinky, cock,’” Powell told 404 Media. “I just let myself get handcuffed and let them do whatever power trip they wanted to do. Got my ticket and left.”

There are currently 41 cameras being used by the Springfield Police Department to surveil residents. Last year, the city entered a five-year, $45,000-per-year contract with Flock for their ALPR cameras. This instance is one of many in the growing national resistance to Flock cameras, which have become prevalent in nearly every major U.S. city without any real kind of vote or democratic process. The “deflock” movement has seen multiple citizens tear down Flock cameras in their neighborhoods. Last week, hackers revealed that Flock cameras survey far more than just cars, intaking data on people walking, biking, and even zooming in on their bumper stickers, all without them knowing—giving even more cause to these protests.