FACT CHECK: Did Macron post a video of Jeffrey Epstein kissing Melania Trump? Truth behind the viral clip

Did French President Emmanuel Macron post a video of sex offender, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein kissing US First Lady Melania Trump? Posts on X claim exactly that. The video, purportedly posted by the French President, shows Epstein grabbing and kissing a woman who looks like Melania. The post, which has been circulating online for quite some time, is now going viral as Melania Trump, on Thursday, denied any meaningful relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She insisted that she "never had" any relationship with the sex offenders and said that she had "no knowledge" of Epstein's criminal activity when they met. As the post continues to be shared widely, let's see how real or fake it is.

What the post claimed

Posts on X claim that the French President posted a 15-second clip of the sex offender kissing the US first lady as she sits on his lap. The video in question actually consists of a single still image purportedly showing Epstein and Melania Trump in an intimate moment.

Did Macron post it?

A manual review of Macron's X and Instagram accounts for April 8, 2026, found nothing resembling the alleged post. It doesn't exist on either platform.

So, where did the image actually come from?

The earliest traceable version of the image dates to February 5, 2026, posted on Facebook by an account that explicitly identifies itself as a satire and meme page. That's more than two months before the Macron claim surfaced. The Facebook post specifies that the picture is, in fact, ‘Digitally altered’ and a ‘parody’.

The image carries a serial number formatted to resemble those used to index materials in the Department of Justice's Epstein document library. However, a quick search of the Epstein files database returned no matches. However, the images do resemble a set of pictures that are part of the DoJ's Epstein files dump.

Notably, the images in question do not show the face of the woman in the image. Her face has been redacted to protect her identity. Moreover, the position of Epstein's hands in the pictures is different from the one being shared online. Additionally, none of them shows Epstein wearing a ring. A close look at his hands also shows what appeared to be a deformed hand, with two of Epstein's fingers seemingly merged together.

AI detectors flag the image as doctored

WION ran multiple detection tests, with two different AI detection tools flagging the image as fake with 97 and 100% probability, respectively.

Disclaimer: WION is only reporting the names that have been mentioned in the Epstein files and is not accusing anyone of any wrongdoing. Readers are advised to use their discretion on this article.