Did radio host James O'Brien talk about 'taking a shot at Trump'? No, audio is fake

What’s being claimed?

A nine-second video of LBC radio host James O’Brien, host of The Whole Show on LBC Radio, is circulating online claiming he spoke about "taking a shot at Trump."

In the video, O'Brien can be heard saying: "So if anyone wants to take a shot at Trump, maybe they should make it, not literally obviously, but on second thoughts. We're just coming up to noon.”

An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video with the caption, “MEDIA - This is James O’Brien. 'So if anyone wants to take a shot at Trump, maybe they should make it, not literally obviously,…but on 2nd thoughts…' Nothing to see here (sic).” The post had over 1.8 million views. Archives of similar posts can be found here and here. The claim surfaced days after former U.S. President Donald Trump survived an assassination bid during a rally he was addressing in Pennsylvania.

Screenshot of the viral video shared online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video has been edited to add fabricated audio. In the original video, O’Brien is speaking about Joe Biden’s health.

What we found

We identified the original footage by analyzing LBC’s YouTube channel and found five videos in which O’Brien is seen wearing the same green shirt over a white T-shirt. At no point in any of these videos does O’Brien mention “taking a shot at Trump.”

We found that the now-viral video was taken from James O’Brien’s show on July 11, 2024. The show was captioned, “I'd rather vote for rice pudding than Donald Trump | James O'Brien—The Whole Show.” An archive can be viewed here. 

We carefully observed the video to match O’Brien’s hand movements to those in the viral clip. We found that the now-viral portion can be seen in the original video from 59:20 to 59:29. The on-screen clock in the original video shows 11:13 at this point, not 11.59 as seen in the viral video.

Comparison of viral video and the original footage of James O’Brien’s podcast. (Source: X/YouTube)

In the original video, O’Brien talks about American actor George Clooney and his New York Times article on Joe Biden’s health. In the article, Clooney said Biden may not be able to win the next election due to his deteriorating health. James reads some of the lines from the article in the podcast.

James says in the video, “...what could only be attributed to age-related decline. So, specifically not dementia, not a diagnosable condition even but because you have got someone in your life that you love.” Here, he was asking viewers about the question he asked the previous week, regarding thoughts about loved ones' age and health-related issues. He didn’t talk about “taking a shot at Trump,” as claimed in the viral video.

We also contacted the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), a specialized unit of the Misinformation Combat Alliance of which Logically Facts is a part, and it classified the audio as “fabricated” 

Here’s what they found

Loccus.ai, a company specializing in AI voice safety solutions, found a 0.57 percent chance the audio is real, indicating it is almost entirely synthetic.

Screenshot of the analysis from Loccus.ai's audio detection tool. (Source: DAU)

The video was also analyzed through the TrueMedia analysis deepfake detector, which also presented substantial evidence of manipulation in the audio.

Screenshot of the analysis from TrueMedia, a deepfake detecting tool. (Source: DAU)

This analysis indicates that fabricated audio has been superimposed onto James O’Brien’s video.

The verdict

Audio analysis indicates that the audio in the viral post is fabricated. The original video shows James O’Brien speaking about Joe Biden’s health. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.