On Saturday, the White House released photos that claimed to show President Donald Trump working from Walter Reed military hospital after contracting COVID-19. Trump tested positive for the virus on Friday and was taken to the hospital; He's since stayed there two nights thus far. The photos of him "working" from the hospital were shared by Ivanka Trump, who wrote, "Nothing can stop him from working for the American people."
It didn't take long for people to cast doubt that Trump was actually working in the photos, however, as the metadata appears to show the two photos, which include Trump sitting at different tables, were taken only ten minutes apart. The EXIF data embedded in the photos that were shared to Associated Press pretty much confirmed this, and people have already called out the Trump administration for it.Â
Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of The Air Current, first pointed out the data that was embedded in the photos. "The photos released by the WH tonight of the president working at Walter Reed were taken 10 minutes apart at 5:25:39 pm and 5:35:40 pm ET Saturday, according to the EXIF data embedded in both AP wire postings that were shared by the White House this evening," he wrote on Saturday.
Even more bizarre, when the photos have been zoomed in on it's hard to tell what Trump is actually doing. Some have suggested that he's only signing his name on a blank sheet of paper, while others have highlighted that he appears to be doing so with a sharpie. Andrew Feinberg, who is a White House reporter, was among those to note the "staged" nature of the photo on Twitter.
There's also some concern about Trump's lack of wearing any sort of face mask in the photos, especially since he was photographed in two separate locations.
Check out reactions to the photo-op below.
