Government TV’s hacked to show AI video of Trump licking Elon Musk’s toes—WaPo claims it’s ‘possibly’ fake

Along with the footage of Trump kissing Musk’s feet, the video displayed the message: “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING.” An unnamed HUD employee who provided Wired with the video claimed that federal workers were forced to manually turn off each television to stop the video from playing.

An archived webpage shows reporting from The Washington Post, where the outlet called the image "possibly AI-generated," despite it being a clear hoax. The link that was archived is no longer active, meaning that it cannot be accessed live.

However, before the link became inactive, the outlet appeared to delete the word "possibly" in the caption, a screenshot of search results on the website for "ai video" displayed.

Kasey Lovett, a HUD spokesperson, told Forbes that the video was “another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources” and promised that “appropriate action” would be taken.

The controversy surrounding Musk’s influence continues at high levels, as Democrats continue to take issue with massive cuts to government spending.

Reports reveal that approximately 4,000 HUD employees are expected to be laid off due to cuts being implemented by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. An internal memo seen by The Washington Post outlined the scale of the reduction, with the goal of reducing federal spending and workforce size.

Tensions between federal workers and the Trump administration intensified over the weekend after Elon Musk issued a directive in partnership with the Office of Personnel Management (OMP) requiring over two million federal employees to submit a list of their workplace accomplishments from the previous week. Musk, who had used a similar tactic during his 2022 purchase of the app then-known as Twitter (now X), also threatened termination for any employee who failed to comply with the request.

“Consistent with President Donald Trump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”