Altered clip shows Trump vowing to free Imran Khan from prison | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Video shows Trump saying he’ll get former Pakistani prime minister out of jail if elected in 2024

A March 24 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes a video that purports to show former President Donald Trump expressing support for an imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister.

“Hello my Pakistani-American friends,” Trump says in the clip. “I promise, if I win, I will try my best to get Imran Khan out of jail as soon as possible. He is my friend, I love him, I will support him to take over the government again.''

The post received more than 700 shares in five days. Another version of the claim spread widely on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Our rating: Altered

The audio referencing former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was added to the video, which shows a portion of an interview Trump did in 2017. The added audio clearly does not align with the movement of Trump’s lips.

Trump praised Khan in office, but didn't say he'd try to get him out of prison

Khan, who served as Pakistan's prime minister from 2018 to 2022, was convicted of revealing state secrets and sentenced in January to 10 years in prison. He was already serving a years-long prison sentence for corruption, which disqualified him from the ballot in Pakistan’s February parliamentary election, The Associated Press reported.

Though Trump had friendly relations with Khan while president, the video in the post is not authentic.

The audio does not sync with Trump's lips in the clip, which is from the former president's 2017 interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt. Trump’s attire and the background from the 2017 interview match the clip in the Facebook post.

But Trump makes no mention of Khan in the interview. Rather, at the point in which Trump’s movements match those in the Facebook clip, he is talking about former FBI Director James Comey’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

There are no credible news reports about Trump pledging to help free Khan if he is elected president again.

Fact check: Trump visited US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan while president

USA TODAY has debunked an array of altered content about Trump, including a photo showing a vulgar anti-Trump message on the Las Vegas Sphere, a statement from Trump criticizing his lawyer after losing the E. Jean Carroll case and an image of Trump leading a large crowd down a flag-lined street.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Check Your Fact and Logically Facts also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Altered video shows Trump pledging to free Imran Khan | Fact check

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