Trump Throws Official Gov Ball at CNN Reporter, Claims It Was an Accident
A viral video on X, posted by user @MAGA_TruthSeeker, supposedly shows President Donald Trump accidentally hitting CNN reporter Jim Acosta with a ceremonial "gov ball" (a government-issued stress ball) during a White House event. The caption claims Trump was "frustrated" and "chucked the ball" at the reporter before staff rushed to retrieve it.
This is fake. Fact-checkers have determined the video was AI-generated. Key details, like the ball's trajectory and the blurred background, don't match real White House footage. The original source is a satire page known for deepfakes, and no major news outlets have reported any such incident. The "gov ball" itself is also a fictional prop.