President Trump held up a photo from the Democratic Republic of Congo as evidence of murders in South Africa this week.
During a heated meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump berated Ramaphosa for the alleged mass killings of white farmers in the country.
But it has since been confirmed that one of the pictures Trump held up as evidence of the attacks in South Africa was actually a screenshot from a video filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in February.
“Look, here are burial sites all over the place. These are all white farmers that are being buried,” Trump said as he held up the image to gathered reporters.
The picture actually depicts humanitarian workers cleaning up a horrific atrocity that saw over 100 women attacked in the DRC amid deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
The video was published and verified by Reuters on February 3. In an Instagram post, the news agency says that the images came from a blog post published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine.
The blog post shown to Ramaphosa by Trump during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo.
“President Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans,” Reuters say.
President Trump showed a screenshot of Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans https://t.co/mWvVy5Jpxf 1/3 pic.twitter.com/RVOsXUzKmb
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 22, 2025
Reuters reports that its video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty filmed the footage in the DRC and was the only member of the media to get access that day.
“It was extremely difficult for journalists to get in,” he says. “I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] to be allowed to film.”
Al Katanty says that only Reuters had that particular video and was shocked to see the President holding up his screengrab.
“In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people,” Al Katanty says.
Trump has been critical of South Africa in recent weeks, alleging that genocide against white farmers is taking place in the country.
