FACT CHECK: Did Donald Trump Tweet He Will ‘Personally Support’ William Ruto During Kenya’s 2022 Election?

An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows former President Donald Trump tweeting he will “personally support” Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto in Kenya’s 2022 general election.

Screenshot/Facebook

Verdict: False

There is no record of Trump tweeting he will support Ruto in the upcoming Kenyan election. Both the tweet and Ruto’s reply have been fabricated.

Fact Check:

Kenya is set to hold a general election in early August of next year. Ruto, who seeks to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya’s president, has been campaigning for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, according to The Star.

In the alleged July 23 tweet, Trump appears to state, “I will personally support the Deputy president of Kenya @WilliamsRuto in the next years election.” The image also shows Ruto purportedly replying to the tweet, saying, “Am so glad the whole world can see how we are transforming our great nation with wheelbarrows.”

Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, in early January, making it impossible for him to have sent the tweet on July 23. (RELATED: Did Donald Trump Tweet That He Would ‘Leave The Country’ If Joe Biden Wins?)

There is also no record of the former president sending it prior to his suspension from the platform. A search of Trump’s tweets on Factba.se, a website housing a database of his public statements, turned up no matching tweets. ProPublica’s archive of his deleted tweets does not show Trump posting such a message.

The tweet and Ruto’s supposed reply have been fabricated. In the fake Trump tweet, the letter “I” in “IPhone” is capitalized, whereas “Twitter for iPhone” is spelled with a lowercase “i” on the platform. Check Your Fact didn’t find any instance of Ruto replying to one of Trump’s tweets with the statement about wheelbarrows.

Last year, the fact-checking organization Africa Check debunked another fake tweet made to like Trump had expressed support for Ruto.

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