--- title: White House Explains Viral Video of Object Tossed From Window description: A White House official implied the video’s content was real, telling TIME it showed a contractor doing “regular maintenance." canonical: https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-02T15:48:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2025-09-02T20:58:19.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says Viral Video Was 'Probably A.I.'—After White House Implied Otherwise og:description: A White House official implied the video’s content was real, telling TIME it showed a contractor doing “regular maintenance." og:url: https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e2a204419a843a/6998c97d7323af5f7f2bccfd/GettyImages-2220897493.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: People Gather At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says Viral Video Was 'Probably A.I.'—After White House Implied Otherwise twitter:description: A White House official implied the video’s content was real, telling TIME it showed a contractor doing “regular maintenance." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e2a204419a843a/6998c97d7323af5f7f2bccfd/GettyImages-2220897493.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says Video of Object Tossed Out of Window Was 'Probably A.I.'—After White House Implied Otherwise > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ce4fcaf9-18a9-44cf-9126-2c9afe75d117&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Sep 2, 2025 8:58 PM UTCPublished: Sep 2, 2025 3:48 PM UTC  The White House in Washington, DC, is visited by protesters on June 22, 2025. The White House in Washington, DC, is visited by protesters on June 22, 2025. Kevin Carter—Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Sep 2, 2025 8:58 PM UTCPublished: Sep 2, 2025 3:48 PM UTC A video posted online on Monday of a [black bag](https://www.instagram.com/washingtonianprobs/reel/DOCrpK1jOeQ/?hl=en) being heaved out of a second-story White House window was “probably AI-generated,” President Trump told reporters on Tuesday when asked about it. Trump added that such a video couldn't be real because "you can't open the windows" in the White House. "They’re all heavily armored and bullet-proof,” he said. Trump's comments on the [viral video](http://instagram.com/washingtonianprobs/reel/DOCrpK1jOeQ/?hl=en%28opens in a new tab%29) came hours after a White House official gave TIME a statement that implied the video’s content was real, and that it showed a a contractor doing “regular maintenance." The [video](https://www.instagram.com/washingtonianprobs/reel/DOCrpK1jOeQ/?hl=en) was originally posted on an Instagram account called “Washingtonianprobs” and spread widely on social media, prompting jokes about White House security protocol and speculation about what was being thrown out. It shows a person wearing white pants stepping a foot out onto a windowsill on the second floor of the White House and tossing down what appears to be a black plastic bag. Later someone tosses something long and white out the window. The second floor of the White House is where the President’s private residence is located. “It was a contractor who was doing regular maintenance while the President was gone,” the White House official said in a statement in response to questions about the images. President Trump spent Sunday and the Labor Day holiday on Monday at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia. Trump's comments on the authenticity of the video came during an event at the Oval Office in which he took questions from reporters after announcing that U.S. Space Command headquarters was relocating from Colorado to Alabama. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/"},"headline":"Trump Says Video of Object Tossed Out of Window Was 'Probably A.I.'—After White House Implied Otherwise","datePublished":"2025-09-02T15:48:04.000Z","dateModified":"2025-09-02T20:58:19.000Z","description":"“It was a contractor who was doing regular maintenance\"","url":"https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/","keywords":["White House","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e2a204419a843a/6998c97d7323af5f7f2bccfd/GettyImages-2220897493.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4e2a204419a843a/6998c97d7323af5f7f2bccfd/GettyImages-2220897493.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People Gather At White House","caption":"People Gather At White House","creditText":"Kevin Carter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7313902/white-house-video-window/","name":"Trump Says Video of Object Tossed Out of Window Was 'Probably A.I.'—After White House Implied Otherwise"}}]}] ```