Donald Trump 'Girdle' Appears Visible in New Photos

A pair of photos purporting to show Donald Trump wearing a "girdle" at an event over the weekend have gone viral on social media.

The former president and GOP front-runner briefly took the stage at "Sneaker Con" on Saturday—which bills itself as the "The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth"—to launch custom, Trump-branded sneakers.

Trump's shoes—called the "Never Surrender High-Tops"—are listed for $399 on a new website that sells other Trump-branded shoes, as well as cologne and perfume. The sneakers are described as limited-edition, numbered and "a true collector's item."

"Bold, gold, and tough, just like President Trump. They're for the go-getters who don't know the word quit," the description says. "The Never Surrender sneakers are your rally cry in shoe form. Lace-up and step out ready to conquer."

By early Sunday, the website said the shoes were sold out. It says the venture "is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign."

In the midst of his speech on Saturday, Trump brought a crying supporter on stage. The woman exclaimed: "My kids need you, Trump. I love this man, we need him. He's a good Christian. He's a good honest man, go out and vote for Trump."

After the moment captured headlines, Ron Filipkowski, an attorney and frequent Trump critic, on Sunday shared two screenshots that he alleged showed the former president wearing a "girdle" around his abdomen as he greeted and hugged his supporter.

Sharing images of the moment to illustrate his assertion, Filipkowski wrote: "You can see the outline of the top of his girdle when this woman hugs him."

As of press time, the post has been viewed more than 800,000 times. Newsweek has contacted a representative of Trump via email for comment.

The photos were posted days after Trump took to social media to criticize a photo that was supposedly edited to make him look larger than he actually is.

Trump posted on his social-media platform Truth Social a set of four images of him playing golf, one of which he said was AI-generated and three others that were not. In the first image, Trump appeared considerably more bloated with a much-larger belly. The other three, which did not appear to be manipulated, showed Trump at a weight and size more consistent with his recent public appearances.

In the post shared on February 16, the onetime real estate mogul wrote: "The Fake News used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to create the picture on the top left. These are despicable people, but everyone knows that. The other pictures are me hitting Golf balls today to show the difference. Sadly, in our Country, Fake News is all you get!"

It is unclear where the image Trump has taken issue with was originally posted, with him saying it was posted by "The Fake News."

The incident isn't the only time in recent days that Trump has fallen victim to AI-generated images made at his expense. The former president previously accused the Lincoln Project—a pro-democracy organization set up in 2019 to challenge Trump at the 2020 presidential election—of using AI-generated images of him in its adverts.

In response, the organization posted an AI video of his father, Fred Trump Sr., saying that his son had "blown it" and that he was "always a fool."

A video summary provided by the Lincoln Project read: "We thought Donald could use some words of encouragement from his father Fred, who was such a strong supporter of his career."

"I've been dead 30 years and I'm still ashamed of you," the AI-generated Trump Sr. was portrayed as saying in the clip. The video came with a disclaimer explaining that it had been "generated in whole or substantially by artificial intelligence," and that Trump Sr. did not say the words used.

Donald Trump himself has previously shared artificial images of himself. In January, he reportedly shared a post made by another account on Truth Social showing an image of Trump in a church, praying with his head bowed and hands clasped together.

However, upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the Republican had six fingers on one of his hands in the photo, a tell-tale sign that the image was not legitimate.