Following the online outcry over his posting an AI photo of himself depicted as Jesus Christ, President Trump attempts to justify his decision to share the image.
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Shortly after his social media attack on Pope Leo, the president took to his Truth Social to share the AI image. He removed the post early Monday.
While talking to reporters outside the White House, Trump was asked about the post.
“I did post it,” he admitted,” And I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support.”
Trump then stated, “Only the ‘fake news’ would come up with that one. It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
President Trump Previously Posted an AI Image of Himself as the Pope
This isn’t the first time President Trump has posted an AI image of himself as a religious figure.
Following Pope Francis’s death in 2025, the president shared an AI-generated image of himself as the religious leader.
“I had nothing to do with it,” he claimed. “Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it, I have no idea where it came from, maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it, I just saw it last evening.”
After the president posted the image, the White House reshared it on its social media accounts. Both received backlash from Catholics who were still mourning the passing of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday.
Acknowledging the criticism of the AI image, Trump brushed it off. “They can’t take a joke,” he said, referring to media outlets. “The Catholics loved it.”
Despite his initial denial of the photo, Trump said First Lady, Melania, had positive thoughts about it.
“Actually, my wife thought it was cute,” he pointed out.”She said, ‘Isn’t that nice?’”
He also spoke about the idea of himself as pope and the sacrifices of being the Catholic Church’s leader.
“Actually, I would not be able to be married, though,” he teased. “To the best of my knowledge, popes aren’t big on being married, are they? Not that we know of.”