- The claim that an image shows U.S. President Donald Trump kissing White House aide Natalie Harp on a golf course remains under investigation.
- The rumor stems from two versions of the image shared on social media in mid-September 2026. The higher-resolution version had telltale signs of artificial intelligence, such as hands with too many fingers, as well as a watermark confirming it was created or edited using OpenAI’s generative AI tools. The lower-resolution image did not have an OpenAI watermark and was too blurry for telltale anomalies to be apparent.
- The White House declined to provide Snopes with legitimate photos of Trump and Harp golfing that could be compared to the images shared online. A spokesperson said the image was “clearly a fake.”
- Hany Farid, co-founder of deepfake detection company GetReal, told Snopes the higher-resolution image was AI-generated and was clearly derived from the lower-quality version. While he said the lower-resolution version’s quality itself was “a bit of a red flag,” he said he considered its authenticity inconclusive.
- Snopes will update this report if additional information surfaces.
In summer 2026, many people scrutinized White House aide Natalie Harp following news reports of what appeared to be an unusually close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In September, following a Trump visit to Ireland during which he took time to golf at his Trump Organization-owned course, people started sharing multiple versions of an image that appeared to show Trump kissing Harp, whose back is turned toward the camera, while on the golf course.
For example, one X post (archived) shared a low-resolution version of the image. Another popular X post (archived) shared a higher resolution version with crisper colors.
Users also widely posted the image on Threads (archived) and Instagram (archived). Snopes readers emailed us to ask whether the image was real.
Snopes could find no credible evidence or source supporting the authenticity of the image, but we were able to find multiple red flags indicating the higher-resolution version was generated or edited with artificial intelligence tools. The lower-resolution version did not have those same red flags, in part because of its poor quality. Therefore, we’ve left this claim unrated until more evidence comes to light.
We used Google Lens to run a reverse image search on both versions of the image. The oldest example that turned up was a thumbnail image for a Sept. 14 YouTube video uploaded by political commentator Keith Edwards. We’ve fact-checked images originating from Edwards’ thumbnails twice before. In one of those fact checks, Edwards confirmed he had used an AI tool to generate the image.
Snopes reached out to Edwards by email to confirm the origin of the image of Trump kissing Harp. He responded:
My thumbnail team found the image online. We did not create or alter the underlying image, but we also did not independently verify its original source or that the woman pictured is Natalie Harp. Given that only the back of her head is visible, I don’t think her identity can be confirmed from this image alone.
Following this, Snopes used the thumbnail to conduct another reverse image search. While it failed to unearth any older versions of the image, the results (archived) included a wider shot of the subjects than any other we could find. That version, which included the “wtf” text on Edwards’ thumbnail, linked to the same Edwards video.
None of the reverse image searches turned up links to credible news sources or even less-credible tabloids sharing the image. Considering the reporting already scrutinizing Trump’s relationship with Harp, it’s unlikely, if the image were real, that not a single credible news source would report on it. The image also did not appear among photos kept by credible photo repositories, such as Getty Images and The Associated Press.
Although there was no photographer, date or location listed for any version of the image, the timing of its spread suggested it was likely meant to depict something that took place while Trump was visiting his golf course in Ireland on Sept. 13, an activity listed on his calendar as “Executive Time.” Photos of that golf course and Google Maps satellite view don’t show any trees, in contrast to the image of Trump and Harp kissing.
Snopes reached out to the White House by email to ask if any photos of Trump and/or Harp at the golf course over the weekend exist in order to compare what either was wearing in those images with what they supposedly wore in the image of the kiss. The White House did not send or confirm the requested images, but a White House official said the image shared online was “clearly a fake photo.”
While many of those who spread the photo presumed the woman was Harp, there’s no way to confirm that considering the subject’s face isn’t visible.
Some people online claimed the image was actually a 2017 photo of Trump exchanging a cheek-kiss with Norwegian golfer Suzann Pettersen as a greeting. This is false. That kiss was not actually on the golf course, Pettersen was in a different outfit than that of the woman in the recent image and Trump was also dressed differently, as shown in images capturing the moment from 2017.
AI evidence
A tool by OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, detected a watermark in the higher-resolution version image consistent with those generated or edited using the company’s AI tools. Moreover, the image depicts Harp holding her golf club with six fingers.
The lower-resolution version of the image was too blurry to clearly identify AI tells such as an excessive number of fingers on either person’s hands. While OpenAI’s tool didn’t identify a watermark within the lower-resolution image shared across X and Threads, the tool did detect OpenAI watermarks on the thumbnail for Edwards’ video.
Separately, Snopes tested what the tool would find on a real photo where a small portion had then been edited by AI. OpenAI’s tool detected the watermark on such an image, even when the photo was cropped to remove the part that had been edited.
Hany Farid, co-founder of deepfake detection company GetReal and a professor at Drexel University, told Snopes over email that “the high-resolution version was clearly derived from the lower-resolution version and has a SynthID watermark. As for the lower-resolution version, there is not a lot to go on here given the quality and resolution.”
“While there are no obvious visual anomalies, the low quality/resolution is a bit of a red flag. In particular, given the apparent narrow depth of focus, this does not appear to photographed with a mobile device and is more likely taken with a DSLR that would afford this type of narrow depth of focus,” Farid continued. “Assuming this to be the case, I would expect the image quality to be better. At this point, I’d say the authenticity is inconclusive.”
