Claim review · Rating: False (doctored video) · Last reviewed 2026-10-26 · Updated 2026-10-26

A doctored video makes it look as if Barack Obama threw away a gift that Melania Trump gave Michelle Obama

Short answer: AFP reports, in a fact check of 2020-06-11, that a 10-second video posted on Facebook on 2020-06-05 was digitally manipulated. The original footage is the White House meeting of 2017-01-20, in which incoming first lady Melania Trump gives Michelle Obama a gift. AFP says the clip matches CNN’s video from its 30-second mark, and that CNN’s video does not show any gift being thrown. Alt News and Taiwan FactCheck Center report that in the unedited footage Barack Obama takes the box inside and hands it to a staff member.

Last reviewed 2026-10-26 · Updated 2026-10-26. Part of the larger review: what the originals show.

The claim

A video posted on Facebook on 2020-06-05, as AFP reports, appears to show Barack Obama throwing away a gift that Melania Trump had given Michelle Obama. The posts said the gift had been offered to calm the protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020, and AFP says the video was viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook, Weibo and Twitter. AFP fact check, 2020-06-11 (opens in a new tab) (secondary). The footage itself is from 2017, nearly three and a half years earlier. We do not host the doctored video and we do not link a copy of it; we do not name the accounts that posted it. This is another falsely promoted video, not part of the "Michael" claim.

Side by side: a frame of the doctored clip, and the original broadcast

Altered image: a reduced, marked still from the doctored video, showing a woman in a light-blue coat in the foreground, a woman in a dark-red dress at right, and a man in a dark suit and a Marine in dress uniform behind them; the video itself is not hosted. — DOCTORED CLIPA single frame of the circulated video as shown in the Alt News fact check (opens in a new tab) of 2020-06-10, with the tweet text and the video controls cropped out. The video is **not hosted** by us. AFP publishes its own screenshot comparison of the clip and CNN’s video; we do not host AFP’s images, so the frame here is Alt News’s.
**Our finding:** Doctored. The clip makes it look as if the gift was thrown away; in the original broadcast the gift is accepted and carried inside (AFP, Alt News, Taiwan FactCheck Center).

ORIGINAL

CNN’s video "The Obamas greet the Trumps at White House," from the White House meeting of 2017-01-20, on CNN’s YouTube channel (about a minute long). AFP says the circulated clip matches this video from its 30-second mark. Open on YouTube. The player is the youtube-nocookie embed.

A reduced, marked copy of the circulated item is shown for identification and commentary, with our finding beside it. Rights holders can ask us to remove it at submissions@firstladyrevealed.com. How we handle video: our video policy. The three fact-checkers describe what the unedited video shows in slightly different words (see the next section); the video is embedded so you can watch it.

What the sources say

AFP (By AFP Hong Kong, 2020-06-11, 10:15 by its page; read in full on 2026-10-26): the video is digitally manipulated. The original footage shows Michelle Obama accepting a gift from incoming first lady Melania Trump. A reverse image search of keyframes (InVID-WeVerify) found the footage came from 2017-01-20; the meeting was broadcast live by CNN and C-SPAN. The clip matches the CNN video from its 30-second mark, "but the CNN video does not show Obama throwing the gift." AFP also points to ABC News and The Independent for the unedited footage. AFP gives the Chinese caption of the 10-second video in English as "@Trump and his wife went to visit Obama with a gift, in an attempt to ease the anger of the black people," and finds the same video in three more Facebook posts, two on Twitter and two on Weibo. It includes its own screenshot comparison, which we do not host. AFP (opens in a new tab) (secondary)
Alt News (2020-06-10): the doctored video had circulated since 2017; a comedy page shared it on Facebook on 2017-01-22 or 2017-01-23 and it drew about 22 million views. In the original CNN video, Barack Obama "does not throw away the gift but hands it over to a White House staffer"; Alt News adds a wide-angle recording (at 7:12) in which he hands the box to a staff member. Alt News (opens in a new tab) (secondary)
Taiwan FactCheck Center (2020-06-05): it found the same 10-second video already on YouTube, uploaded 2017-01-28 under a title that translates as "Obama throws away Trump’s gift," with the gift flying out of frame at 0:08. It compared the clip with 2017-01-20 footage from The Guardian and The Independent and found no throw, and quotes The New York Times as saying he "took the box, walked inside and handed it to an unknown person." Taiwan FactCheck Center (opens in a new tab) (secondary; Chinese-language page, read by us with machine translation and the English search summary)
The Obama Presidential Library hosts, on its YouTube channel, a video titled "President Obama welcomes President Elect Trump to the White House MC 8270 25 12322 F" (about 13 minutes, uploaded 2026-05-22), from the White House Communications Agency’s master control tape 8270. Library video (opens in a new tab) · Library finding aid (opens in a new tab) (the Library’s own record of the tape; we did not watch the whole tape to find the gift exchange)

What we could not confirm

We read AFP’s full text on 2026-10-26. AFP shows its own frames and a side-by-side of the clip and CNN’s video; we do not host AFP’s images, and the frame on this page is from Alt News.
We have not downloaded the videos to check frames ourselves, so we have not verified the 30-second match or the moment of the exchange. We rely on AFP, Alt News and Taiwan FactCheck Center, and the CNN video is embedded so you can check it.
AFP links a C-SPAN recording (opens in a new tab) of the exchange; we link CNN’s video and have not played the C-SPAN one. We have not looked at the original Facebook post and do not link it (we have not named the account that posted it).
The fact-checkers describe the original in slightly different words (AFP: she accepts the gift; Alt News and Taiwan FactCheck Center: Barack Obama then takes it inside and hands it to a staff member). These do not conflict; we mention the difference for completeness.
We do not know who made the edit. The 2017-01-28 YouTube upload is the earliest copy that Taiwan FactCheck Center found, not necessarily the first.

What was changed, in plain terms

Element	Original	Doctored version
The gift	Handed to Michelle Obama, then carried inside and passed to a staff member (AFP, Alt News, Taiwan FactCheck Center)	Appears to be thrown away
Context	The White House meeting on 2017-01-20, before the inauguration	Posted in June 2020 as if it were a new incident after the Floyd protests
Source	CNN and C-SPAN live coverage	A 10-second clip with a CNN logo and no source named

How the video spread

2017-01-20: The exchange is broadcast live. CNN on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
2017-01-22 or 2017-01-23: A doctored version is shared by a comedy page on Facebook, per Alt News. Alt News (opens in a new tab)
2017-01-28: The earliest YouTube copy Taiwan FactCheck Center found is uploaded. Taiwan FactCheck Center (opens in a new tab)
2020-06-05: The doctored video is posted on Facebook with a new caption, per AFP. AFP (opens in a new tab) Taiwan FactCheck Center dates its check 2020-06-05 as well.
2020-06-10 and 2020-06-11: Alt News and AFP publish checks.
2026-05-22: The Obama Presidential Library uploads the White House tape of the meeting. Library video (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photographs

These are genuine photographs of Michelle Obama, from public sources, with the date, credit, license and a link to the file. They are all public domain or freely licensed, reduced in size. They are shown so a reader can see what authentic photographs look like across the years; they are not the original of the item on this page unless the caption says so. We looked for childhood and high-school photographs in public sources and did not find any we could verify and legally show; the earliest verified photograph here is from 1985.

Verified real photograph: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, smiling, in her portrait in the 1985 Princeton University yearbook. — **1985**. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in the Princeton University yearbook, 1985 (page 285). Credit: Princeton University (yearbook), via the Digital Princeton University Yearbooks collection. License: Public domain (Commons: PD-US-1978-89, published without a copyright notice). File page (opens in a new tab) · Princeton University Library record (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photograph: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their daughters walking on stage on the final night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. — **2008-08-28**. The Obama family on the final night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress. License: Public domain (Library of Congress; Carol M. Highsmith). File page (opens in a new tab) · Library of Congress record (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photograph: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their daughters waving to the crowd after the January 20, 2009 inaugural address, on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol. — **2009-01-20**. The family wave to the crowd after the inaugural address, west steps of the U.S. Capitol. Credit: Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force. License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File page (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photograph: a family portrait of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their daughters seated in the Green Room of the White House, September 1, 2009. — **2009-09-01**. Family portrait in the Green Room of the White House. Credit: Annie Leibovitz, released by the White House. License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File page (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photograph: Barack Obama and Michelle Obama posing in front of the official White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room, December 6, 2009. — **2009-12-06**. Formal portrait in front of the official White House Christmas tree, Blue Room. Credit: Official White House photo (Lawrence Jackson). License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File page (opens in a new tab)

Verified real photograph: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, their daughters and two dogs posing in the Rose Garden of the White House on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015. — **2015-04-05**. Family portrait with the family dogs in the Rose Garden, Easter Sunday. Credit: Official White House photo by Pete Souza (P040515PS-0034). License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File page (opens in a new tab)

Sources

Primary

Secondary context only (fact-checkers and reference)

Photo credit and license

Gallery photo, 1985: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in the Princeton University yearbook, 1985 (page 285). Credit: Princeton University (yearbook), via the Digital Princeton University Yearbooks collection. License: Public domain (Commons: PD-US-1978-89, published without a copyright notice). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Princeton University Library record (opens in a new tab)
Gallery photo, 2008-08-28: The Obama family on the final night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress. License: Public domain (Library of Congress; Carol M. Highsmith). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Library of Congress record (opens in a new tab)
Gallery photo, 2009-01-20: The family wave to the crowd after the inaugural address, west steps of the U.S. Capitol. Credit: Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force. License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Gallery photo, 2009-09-01: Family portrait in the Green Room of the White House. Credit: Annie Leibovitz, released by the White House. License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Gallery photo, 2009-12-06: Formal portrait in front of the official White House Christmas tree, Blue Room. Credit: Official White House photo (Lawrence Jackson). License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)
Gallery photo, 2015-04-05: Family portrait with the family dogs in the Rose Garden, Easter Sunday. Credit: Official White House photo by Pete Souza (P040515PS-0034). License: Public domain (U.S. federal government work). File: Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

How we know

Find the video and its claim: a gift is thrown away.
Find the original broadcast of the event (2017-01-20).
Read what three fact-checkers say the original shows, and compare them.
Embed the original and do not host the doctored copy.
State the limits: we did not frame-match the clips ourselves.

Is Michelle Obama a man? The full review of the “Michael” claim — the main case file, with all the records
FLR-004: 2011 ceremony clip — clipped video
FLR-005: 2015 speech clip — clipped video
FLR-011: Family photo with an added building — altered image
How we check and rate claims — methodology
How to find the original source of a viral image or video — explainer
How we handle video — policy
Short answers: the FAQ
All 13 claims we have checked

Change log

Date	Change
2026-10-26	Upgraded one source: read the AFP check (AFP Hong Kong, 2020-06-11) in full, replacing earlier notes about AFP’s page, its frame and the C-SPAN recording. Added AFP’s byline and time, the caption it translates, its count of other posts, and the C-SPAN link it cites; the limits now say plainly that we do not host AFP’s images.
2026-10-26	First published: case file FLR-013, with a marked still of the doctored clip (video not hosted) and CNN’s broadcast embedded as the original.

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