Walz knocks Trump’s AI crowd claims

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Wednesday knocked former President Trump’s false claim that a photo of a crowd at a campaign rally for Vice President Harris in Detroit was altered with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“I assure you, in Detroit, that wasn’t AI, and I’ll also assure you that every one of the ballots they’re going to cast will not be AI,” Walz told a crowd at a fundraiser in Denver, prompting cheers, per a pool report shared by the campaign. 

Walz mentioned “there’s no safety net” when speaking to large crowds, spurring Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) to quip, “Are you saying they’re not all AI?”

Trump has falsely claimed a photo of thousands waiting for Harris’s arrival in Michigan last week was doctored, despite documentation of the crowd by attendees and fact-checks disputing the AI claims. The former president, who has long boasted of the crowd size at his events, argued that “there was nobody there.” 

“This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan,” the KamalaHQ account fired back on the social platform X. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has warned that Trump is “laying the groundwork for election denial” with the claims. 

Walz’s stop in Denver is part of a multistate fundraising swing this week, his first solo events since Harris chose him as her running mate. The pair have been crossing the country to visit key states, with fewer than 90 days until Election Day.

Walz was joined at the Denver fundraiser, hosted in Democrat megadonor Tim Gill’s home, by Polis, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and other top Democrats in the state.

The Minnesota governor spoke to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union Tuesday in Los Angeles, where he hit back at Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) attacks against his military service record.

Walz was set to travel to Boston after his Colorado visit, before moving on to Newport, R.I., and Southampton, N.Y., on Thursday.