Former US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to promote a fabricated endorsement from Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase.
Trump’s post, which featured a photograph of Dimon with the headline, “New: Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has endorsed Trump for President,” quickly drew backlash.
The post was shared around 1800 GMT (11:30pm IST) and appeared to be a repost of another social media item.
A spokesman for JPMorgan, Joe Evangelisti, promptly rejected the endorsement, “That report was false. Jamie has not endorsed a candidate.” Dimon had previously refrained from backing any candidate in the election.
When pressed by NBC News later that day about the misleading post, Trump claimed ignorance, saying, “Somebody put it up. I don’t know.”
In September, Dimon highlighted his neutrality by confirming that he is not backing either Trump or Harris, despite having offered some measured praise for Trump in the past. However, the two have also had their share of public clashes.
This incident echoes a similar controversy from August when Trump shared manipulated images purportedly depicting pop star Taylor Swift supporting his campaign. Swift, however, had publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, expressing concern over the misinformation being spread.
In a September 11 Instagram post, she said, “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
