Trump and Spokesperson Offer Conflicting Explanations of Viral White House Video

After a video went viral that appeared to show trash bags getting thrown out of a White House window, President Donald Trump and his press team offered conflicting explanations of what happened.

The video, which is just under a minute and a half long, circulated on X on Monday, Sept. 1. It shows an open window on the second floor of the White House. Multiple angles show several items being tossed out the window and onto the lawn below.

Adam Cochran, who describes himself as an “independent investigative journalist” on X, was one of many who shared the video with speculative commentary.

“People don’t realize that this is weird because after 9/11, the windows were all replaced with sealed bulletproof windows, including in the residence,” he wrote. “To throw something out the window means taking the window out of the window pane itself.”

“BUT, security protocol says that contractors can’t have access to the residence while the President is staying at the White House. So if work is being done by a contractor on the private residence, that means Trump wasn’t at the White House last night/this morning,” he concluded.

A spokesperson for the Trump administration told PEOPLE on Tuesday, Sept. 2, that the clip was of a contractor doing routine maintenance on the White House while the president was away. (Trump reportedly spent Monday afternoon at his golf club in Virginia.)

Hours after the White House shared its explanation with PEOPLE, though, Trump himself was asked about the clip during a live press conference in the Oval Office. In contrast to his own press team, Trump claimed the video was fake and insisted that those windows don’t open.

“That’s probably AI-generated. Actually, you can’t open the windows. You know why? They’re all heavily armored and bulletproof,” the president said. “It’s gotta be [fake], because I know every window up there.”

“In fact, my wife was complaining about it the other day, she said, ‘I’d love to have a little fresh air come in.’ But you can’t, they’re bulletproof,” he continued. “Number one, they’re sealed, and number two, each window weighs about 600 pounds.”

Trump claimed that if he were going to dump items, he would never do it out of a White House window “because there’s cameras all over the place.” He also offered words of wisdom for navigating a world with artificial intelligence, saying, “If something happens really bad, just blame AI.”

Monday was the start date for a pause on all tours of the White House, as construction is set to begin on Trump’s massive new ballroom addition.

The 90,000-square-foot project on top of the East Wing is set to have a seated capacity of 650 people, according to the White House. It will cost around $200 million, with Trump and other undisclosed donors footing the bill.

A social source in Florida recently told PEOPLE that the president and first lady Melania Trump are renovating the White House in order to make it feel more like their Florida beach club home, Mar-a-Lago.

In addition to the ballroom, the Trumps have recently replaced the White House Rose Garden lawn with a cement patio and added various gold details — as well as Trump-themed art and merchandise — throughout the White House.

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The source said that both Donald and Melania “would prefer to be in Palm Beach,” so instead they’re “bringing Mar-a-Lago to Washington.”

“Their plans for the White House are being implemented to remind them of Mar-a-Lago,” the source added. “That way, when they aren’t in Palm Beach they are there in the mind.”