Video does not show Trump commenting on recent U.S. strike in Yemen

By: Nikolaj Kristensen
January 15 2024

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(Source: X/TikTok/Screenshots)

Context

In the wake of the U.S. strike against Houthi targets in Yemen on January 11, 2024, users on social media shared a video of former U.S. president Donald Trump claiming the video showed him condemning U.S. president Joe Biden for the airstrikes. 

"I think that crooked Joe Biden is not only dumb and incompetent, I believe he has gone mad, a stark raving Lunatic," Trump says in the video.

"BREAKING: DONALD TRUMPS SLAMS JOE BIDEN FOR US AIRSTRIKE ON YEMEN," said posts on X, while posts on TikTok was shared with similar claims. 

However, the video is old and does not show Trump commenting on the attack on the Houthis.

In fact

Trump originally posted the video on Truth Social on August 17, 2023 – months before the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war caused increased tension in the Red Sea. Trump's rant circulated on social media back in August when a few days earlier a Georgia grand jury had indicted him for trying to overturn the 2020 election.

For obvious reasons, the rant does not touch upon the US airstrike that had yet to happen.

The video was originally posted to Trump's Truth Social account in August 2023. (Source: Truth Social/Screenshot)

In several of the posts on social media, the video of Trump is accompanied by the following quote: "Yet another war started by Biden. They said I would cause a World War 3. A complete mad man is using the War Powers Act against Yemen with F-22 Jets and Tomahawk missiles. Why? I will end all wars in just a short time!"

Trump, however, does not say this in the video and we could find no mention by any credible source of him saying it. Trump has previously given similar remarks, stating, for example, that he'd settle the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected president. On the Israel-Hamas war, however, he has said that it will "probably have to play out."

Trump did comment on the airstrikes on Truth Social, writing, "Now we have wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Yemen, but no ‘war' on our Southern Border. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Crooked Joe Biden is the worst President in the history of the United States!"

On Truth Social, Trump commented on the airstrikes is Yemen, calling Biden "crooked" and "the worst President" in US history. (Source: Truth Social/Screenshot)

The verdict

The video was posted to Truth Social by Trump on August 17, 2023, a few days after he was indicted by a Georgia grand jury for trying to overturn the 2020 election. It predates the U.S. airstrike in Yemen by several months. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.