In February 2026, an image circulated online that purported to authentically show U.S. President Donald Trump sitting in a room looking at a group of blindfolded girls.
One Facebook post sharing the image claimed it was from the Epstein files, a Department of Justice release of more than 3 million files related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. That post read:
I've been posting things from the Epstein files and I'm not sure that people are absorbing the horrible things that have been done to children, both girls and boys. Many were disposed of after the adults had their fill of them. Here's a photo of 'him' in his underwear and wife-beet-er watching little, blindfolded girls paraded in front of him. I dare someone to say it's not him.
(Facebook user Omar Saleh)
The image also circulated on X (archived) and Threads (archived).
Reverse images searches showed the image came from a video that circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived). The video appeared to feature NBC News presenter Tom Llamas and at least two clips generated by artificial intelligence. The video did not include the sound of Llamas speaking, only his likeness.
The clip that appeared to show Trump watching a parade of blindfolded girls showed clear signs of the use of AI. Therefore, we rate the video and the image that came from it fake.
We reached out to NBC News to ask whether Llamas was aware of the use of his likeness in the AI-manipulated video. We also reached out to several social media users to establish the source of the video. We'll update this report if we learn more.
The image or video that claimed to show Trump looking at a row of blindfolded girls did not appear online alongside a file number that would indicate it came from the Epstein files. The Free Press compiled 14 hours of video from the Epstein files across two long videos. Scrubbing through those videos did not reveal the clip of Trump looking at the blindfolded girls.
Investigating 'blindfolded girls' video
Facebook user Dr Tahir Sargana posted a 23-second video (archived) on Feb. 10, 2026. That video showed Sargana speaking in Urdu and what appeared to be a photo of Epstein, as well as a video compilation that included Llama's talking head. Snopes reached out to Sargana to ask if he created the video and await a reply.
The first clip in Sargana's video appeared to show a child leading Epstein out of a room full of other children. The clip was generated with AI, as evidenced by one girls' shoes, which morphed unnaturally when she moved and at one point appeared to show her with three feet instead of two.
(Facebook user Dr Tahir Sargana)
The next three clips in the video showed aerial footage that appeared to be animated versions of authentic photos from Epstein's Little St. James island. These included a photo of what appeared to be a dentist's chair in a room full of masks that Snopes has previously verified. Several publicly available AI generators have the capacity to turn still photos into moving videos.
Next followed the clip that appeared to show Trump watching a line of blindfolded girls. That clip also was generated by AI. Around 13 seconds into Sargana's video, one girl appeared to morph into three, a known sign of the use of AI.
(Facebook user Dr Tahir Sargana)
The video then showed three more clips that again appeared to be animated versions of authentic photos or edited versions of authentic video (archived).
For further reading, Snopes has covered a number of other claims about Epstein and the people who feature in the DOJ's files about its investigation into the disgraced financier.