White House’s Decision to Post AI-Edited Arrest Photo Hugely Backfires

The White House’s horrible, AI-doctored photograph of a Minnesota protester was used as evidence Monday that Donald Trump’s administration is acting in “nakedly obvious bad faith.”

In a four-page filing, attorney Jordan Kushner argued that the court should modify conditions for the release of his client, Nekima Levy-Armstrong, a civil rights attorney arrested at an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kushner claimed that events that occurred after Levy-Armstrong’s arrest had “informed the Court of the government’s bad faith,” and had already influenced the court in declining to place restrictions on her co-defendants, who were released on January 30.

Among the list of incidents, Kushner included the White House’s X post featuring “an altered photo of Ms. Levy-Armstrong being arrested to make it falsely appear that she was crying and making her face darker.”

Kushner noted that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had posted the original photograph of his client being escorted in handcuffs by law enforcement. More recently, Attorney General Pam Bondi had posted names and mugshots of 16 other protesters, he added.

In considering all the reasons to lighten the release restrictions placed on Levy Armstrong, Kushner asked the court to consider “the government’s nakedly obvious bad faith.”