Trump's 'Weird' AI-Style Photo Edits Out Melania but Leaves 'Harp Look-Alike' Monica Crowley Beside Him

Donald Trump posted an image of himself saluting beside Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. Both first ladies, who were standing there in the actual footage, are gone. One woman remains in the frame.

The picture appeared on Truth Social on Thursday 24 September 2026, the day after the Chinese president arrived for his state visit, and it does not match photographs and video of the welcome.

Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, both present, are absent from Trump's version, while the woman visible behind him has been identified as Monica Crowley, the US chief of protocol. The discrepancy set off a round of speculation online that she was somebody else entirely.

What the Image Changes

The comparison with the original is what drew attention. The New Republic reported that footage of the arrival shows Trump and Xi accompanied by their wives, while in the posted image the two men appear to be standing alone. The image was emblazoned with the words 'Only Trump'.

The first ladies are not the only difference. In the real footage Trump did not hold a composed expression through the military flyover; he winced at the noise of a B-1 bomber passing overhead. Mediaite reported further changes, noting that the original Getty photograph taken by Brendan Smialowski shows him wearing gloves on both hands, while the version he posted appears to show only one.

The journalist Aaron Rupar, who circulated the comparison, urged people to look closely and said there was a lot of AI slop going on in the photo. Reporting has described the image as apparently AI-generated or doctored, but no published forensic analysis has established how it was altered or by whom.

The Woman in the Frame

Monica Crowley has served as chief of protocol since 30 May 2025, the 35th person to hold the post, having previously been assistant secretary of the Treasury for public affairs from 2019 to 2021. Her role includes advising the president and other officials on diplomatic protocol during engagements with foreign dignitaries, and she was at the arrival, posting several photographs of herself from the event afterwards.

The identification rests on the original picture rather than on guesswork. The Getty photograph shows Crowley standing behind Trump, and comparison of the two images indicates that the woman in his version occupies the same position while looking markedly different.

Online, some users reached a different conclusion. They identified the blonde figure as Natalie Harp, the president's executive assistant, who frequently accompanies him and is often photographed with her hand over her heart, and claimed she had removed Melania Trump from the picture and inserted herself. The Independent initially made the same identification before correcting its story to name Crowley.

There is no evidence for the claim about Harp. Nothing published establishes that she created, edited, commissioned or approved the image, or what method was used to alter it, and it is not clear whether she was present for the arrival. The allegation explains why the story travelled, but it is speculation rather than reporting.

Why the Confusion Landed So Easily

Rupar himself went further after identifying the original. He argued that Crowley's face appeared to have been altered to resemble Harp's, a visual assessment rather than a forensic determination.

Harp is a recognisable presence in the Trump operation. She works as an executive assistant, frequently accompanies him on official trips, and has been reported to assist with his social media operation, which is why an unexplained blonde aide in an altered photograph attracted her name rather than anyone else's.

Recent profiles have kept her in view. Published accounts this year have focused on letters she wrote to Trump and on reports of concern among some White House staff about her unusually close access to him. None of that reporting has any established connection to this image.

The edit itself remains unexplained. The White House has not said who produced the image or why the first ladies are missing from it, and Trump has not addressed the discrepancy.

An image meant to show the president alongside a foreign leader ended up generating a day of argument about which woman was standing behind him.