A photo appearing to show Donald Trump embracing and kissing a blonde woman on a golf course has gone viral online, prompting widespread speculation about the identity of the woman and whether the image is genuine.
The photograph began circulating on social media earlier this week, with many users claiming the woman pictured could be Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old aide who has worked with Trump for around four years.
The image only shows the back of the woman's head, meaning her identity cannot be independently established from the photograph itself. Two versions of the image have reportedly been circulating online, with significant differences in quality between them.
Questions have also been raised about whether artificial intelligence was used to create or manipulate the picture.
According to reporting by Snopes, the higher-resolution version contains apparent signs associated with AI-generated imagery, including unusual-looking hands and a watermark indicating that OpenAI technology had been used to create or edit the image.
However, the lower-resolution version is considerably blurrier, making those details much harder to examine.
Hany Farid, co-founder of deepfake detection company Get Real, told Snopes that he considered the higher-resolution image to be clearly AI-generated, while describing the authenticity of the lower-quality version as inconclusive.
The photograph first began appearing on X on September 14 and quickly attracted attention, with some users connecting it to recent reports about Harp's relationship with Trump.
Harp was previously in the spotlight after The New York Times published a letter she reportedly wrote to Trump following their trip to a golf course in Scotland. In the letter, Harp appeared to apologize for being an embarrassment while walking the course and said she wanted things to always be right between them.
CNN has also reported an alleged incident in which Harp wanted to accompany Trump to court so badly that, after being told there were no available seats in his motorcade, she reportedly travelled in the trunk of an SUV.
The aide has additionally been mentioned in recent political commentary. Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff recently referred to Harp during a rally while discussing Trump's activities and priorities.
Trump's relationship with Harp has also been discussed in the book Regime Change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The authors reported that Trump had previously told staff that, while others would eventually leave and make money, Harp would "never leave me."
Amid the attention surrounding the photograph, the White House has addressed the image directly.
A White House spokesperson said the photograph was "clearly a fake photo."
The statement comes as AI-generated and digitally manipulated images continue to circulate rapidly across social media, making it increasingly difficult for users to determine whether apparently authentic photographs are genuine.
At present, the identity of the woman shown in the image has not been independently established, and questions remain about the authenticity of the lower-resolution version.
The photograph therefore continues to generate discussion online, despite the White House's dismissal of it as fake.
