Does photo show Hakeem Jeffries with Epstein?

In August 2026, an image appeared online claiming to show (archived, archived) U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., with the late financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. 

According to some posts, the photograph was supposedly taken at an event in 2013. Snopes readers wrote in asking whether the image was real.

(David J Harris Jr. via Facebook)

We found that the photo not real, and was generated with artificial intelligence tools. The post was a good example of AI slop — low quality content produced using AI aiming to play the algorithm to go viral and make money.

August 2026 wasn’t the first time the image went viral. Snopes debunked it months earlier. 

Performing a reverse image search on Google showed the earliest example of the image was dated Feb. 11 and originated from the X account @DumbFckFinder — a finding supported by the “DFF” watermark to the right of Jeffries’ head. We reached out to the owner of that account hoping to confirm they created the photo, but had not heard back at time of publication. 

That account describes its output as parody and satire. When Snopes first investigated the image, the account’s bio said it is “an AI-powered meme engine that turns stupidity into content,” reading:

We use AI to create memes, songs, stories, and visuals that call things exactly how they are — fast, loud, and impossible to ignore. If something looks dumb, sounds dumb, or feels off, we turn it into something shareable.

(The account’s bio has changed since then.)

A reverse image search revealed the image had been posted only to social media, and never by prominent news media outlets. Given the scale of the Epstein case, prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true.

Finally, we ran the image in the post through Google’s Gemini AI. Any image generated by Gemini contains a watermark called a SynthID. Gemini found that “most or all of this image was edited or generated with Google AI.” 

To avoid errors, we recommend checking for other signs of AI on top of using SynthID screening tools since they can show false positives. In this case, our primary evidence was the X account’s original disclaimer that its output is “AI-powered.” 

For further reading, Snopes previously reported on another story from the same account of a fake photo with Epstein and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.