Washington D.C.-based radio show host John Fredericks addressed the online controversy surrounding a photo he took with President Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, over the weekend, after social media users and artificial intelligence (AI) tools falsely claimed the image was digitally altered or taken months earlier.
Fredericks sparked controversy after posting the photo of himself with Trump taken on August 31, at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
Thank you, Mr. President for making Washington D.C. the safest city in America! Crime is now virtually zero. Make America Safe Again. ❤️DC @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/chzjXKKW9j
— John Fredericks (@jfradioshow) September 1, 2025
Despite being taken by his wife, Anne, with Secret Service permission, online users and AI tools falsely claimed the photo was fake or from a different date and location.
Fredericks refuted the accusations in a video posted to social media, expressing disbelief at how quickly misinformation spread and warning that AI and social media have become unreliable sources of truth.
On Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Fredericks called the wave of misinformation surrounding his photo with the president “insane” and pointed to it as evidence that AI and social media are unreliable.
“The Trump deniers are basically saying that this is a fake photo, and they ran it through AI and AI says a photo was taken May 29 at Mar-a-Lago. They said they have the same carpet and the same people…This thing is insane. The number of people that went on X and disputed a photo that my wife took at about 4:00 p.m. of President Trump and I was unbelievable,” Fredericks explained.
“We had people saying it was taken at Mar-a-Lago. We had somebody who said they confirmed it’s from New Jersey several months ago… It was just insane,” he added.
Despite his repeated confirmations—and even a follow-up picture showing him and his wife at the golf club over the weekend—Fredericks said skeptics continue to deny the photo’s authenticity.
“The crazy thing here is half of what is on X and on the internet is completely false and made up. You can’t trust AI because it was saying the picture was not taken on Sunday August 31 at 4:00 p.m. It’s unbelievable,” he said.
While AI tools like Grok have since confirmed the authenticity of the photo, Fredericks emphasized how the controversy surrounding his photo with Trump is an example of the danger AI-generated misinformation poses to truth.
“The reality of this is we are now in a place where anything on the internet, anything that’s AI, anything that’s on social media, you can’t trust any of it,” he said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Donald Trump and John Fredericks” by John Fredericks.
