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Viral image
Viral image
stated on May 30, 2024 in an Instagram post:

Photo shows former President Donald Trump in police custody May 30.

False

No, this isn’t an authentic image of former President Donald Trump getting arrested after verdict

If your time is short

  • Former President Donald Trump wasn’t taken into custody after receiving a guilty verdict in a Manhattan hush money case May 30. An image that shows him being frogmarched by police appears to have been generated using artificial intelligence.

See the sources for this fact-check

A unanimous jury found former President Donald Trump guilty May 30 on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

An image that appeared on social media soon after showed a shouting Trump being frogmarched by police and left some people wondering: Was he whisked off to custody? 

“GUILTY!” the May 30 Instagram post said.

“Is the above picture real?” one account commented on the post, which was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The image appears to have been generated using artificial intelligence. A  photo of a former U.S. president being taken away by law enforcement following an historic verdict would be widely publicized by news outlets across the world. But reverse image searches for the picture turned up no news reports. 

One account commenting on the Instagram post wondered if it was AI: “His skin isn’t this smooth.”  

In the image, Trump is wearing a navy blue and white striped tie. In the courtroom, he was wearing a solid royal blue tie. And more importantly: He wasn’t taken into custody. Trump spoke to reporters after the verdict and his sentencing is scheduled for July 11. There’s no guarantee he’ll receive a jail sentence.

There’s no match for the image in wire photos captured by journalists on the ground in New York.

We rate claims this image shows Trump getting arrested after his guilty verdict May 30 False.

 
Our Sources

No, this isn’t an authentic image of former President Donald Trump getting arrested after verdict

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on January 7, 2026 a press briefing

stated on January 14, 2026 a statement

Social Media
stated on February 14, 2026 social media posts



stated on January 20, 2026 an op-ed


Donald Trump
stated on February 3, 2026 remarks in the Oval Office


Social Media
stated on February 8, 2026 social media posts





Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on stated on November 17, 2025 in remarks at George Washington University:

Donald Trump
stated on February 2, 2026 an interview with Dan Bongino