In light of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ recent arrest, former President Donald Trump shared a fake image on his Truth Social account that inaccurately portrayed Vice President Kamala Harris alongside Combs, with the caption insinuating her involvement in his alleged “freak offs.”
The altered image was based on a 2001 photograph featuring Harris with former talk show host Montel Williams, whom she dated briefly, along with his daughter Ashley. In the edited version, Williams’ face was swapped out for Diddy’s.
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This isn’t the first occasion that the Republican presidential nominee has shared a fabricated image to support his campaign. Trump previously posted multiple AI-generated images, including one that inaccurately showed Taylor Swift and her fans endorsing him, as well as another featuring Harris engaging with a crowd of supposed communists at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Combs was arrested on Monday and faces an indictment that includes charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation for the purpose of prostitution. This legal action follows months of lawsuits against the rap music mogul. In November 2023, Cassie, a singer and Combs’ former girlfriend, filed a lawsuit accusing him of physical abuse and rape. Combs denied these allegations, and the two reached a settlement shortly after the lawsuit was initiated.
The indictment described what prosecutors referred to as “freak offs,” which they claimed were extended sexual encounters that Combs allegedly coerced victims into participating in. Prosecutors further alleged that some of these encounters involved commercial sex workers and the administration of narcotics to ensure that victims remained “obedient and compliant.”
Both candidates have had prior public interactions with Combs. In a 2020 post on X, Harris commended Combs for hosting a town hall focused on the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on Black communities.
Meanwhile, old images of Trump with Combs have garnered over a million views on X. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted Trump’s past remarks about Combs during his show, playing a clip from 2012 in which Trump referred to Combs as “a good friend of mine, he’s a good guy” while on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Additionally, there have been attempts to undermine the Harris-Walz campaign through misleading media. Microsoft has identified at least three Russian disinformation operatives targeting the campaign with fake videos. At the same time, Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump in July, circulated a doctored ad featuring a manipulated version of Harris’s voice.
