2016 Video of Donald Trump Saying He Is a Fan of India Goes Viral as Recent

This video dates back to 2016 and is unrelated to 2024 US elections.

Fact-check: An old video of Trump praising India is being falsely shared as a recent one in the context of the upcoming 2024 US elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video of former United States President Donald Trump praising the Hindu community is going viral online.

"I am a big fan of Hindu and a big fan of India. Let me start right upfront, if I am elected as (the US) President, then the Indian community will have a true friend in the White House," Trump says in the video.

Users are linking this video to the upcoming 2024 US presidential elections and insinuating that this is a recent speech.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be viewed here and here.)

What's the truth?: This video actually dates back to 16 October 2016 and was recorded at an Indian-American charity event in New Jersey where Trump declared himself “a big fan of Hindus” and also applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the viral video which led us to a Facebook post shared by news agency Asian News International (ANI).

• This was shared on 16 October 2016 and it stated that it showed Trump speaking positively about the Hindu culture and about India prior to 2016 presidential elections.

• Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search on Google using 'Trump big fan on India 2016' and this led us to a report shared by The New York Times on 16 October 2016.

• The report also mentioned that Trump declared himself as “a big fan of Hindu and India” and also praised PM Modi.

• It further stated that Trump delivered this speech a couple of weeks before the elections at a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition in Edison, New Jersey.

The report's headline carried one of the statements from the claim.

(Source: The New York Times/Screenshot)

Conclusion: An old video of Trump praising India is being falsely shared as a recent one in the context of the upcoming 2024 US elections.

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