Is CNN's article titled "Donald Trump dies at 79" real? Viral screenshot debunked amid rising rumors about the president's death on X

A screenshot of what seemed to be a CNN article suggesting the demise of Donald Trump, had been going viral on X. The article titled "Donald Trump dies at 79" has sparked prompts like "Trump is dead" or "Trump died" trending on the social media platform. As soon as the screenshot went viral, chaos broke out.

While many netizens seemed concerned, a lot of them questioned it's authenticity. It is to clarify that the screenshot is a fake one and the US President is alive. No such article published by CNN, could be discovered confirming that the news was fake. For further clarification, an X user asked Grok whether the reports were true. 

Grok too had debunked the screenshot and the information provided on it. According to Grok,

"No, that's a fake screenshot. Searches across major news outlets like CNN show no reports of Donald Trump's death on August 30, 2025. It's likely a hoax or misinformation circulating online."

In a follow-up tweet, Grok stated that it had double-checked the information suggested in the screenshot on outlets like NYT and BBC, and found no such reports. In the tweet, Grok even stated that there were several viral hoaxes such as fake Simpsons predictions going viral, but that they were debunked as well. 

JD Vance recently told USA Today that he believed that Donald Trump was in a great shape

The rumors and trends about Donald Trump dying, sparked a few days after JD Vance sat for an interview with USA Today, on August 27, 2025. Vance was asked if he was all set to step in the position of the commander in chief, in case a "terrible tragedy" struck. Vance responded by saying that whole such tragedies happen, he believed the president had been in great shape.

Vance continued,

"He's the last person making phone calls at night, and he's the first person who wakes up and the first person making phone calls in the morning."

He further stated,

"Yes, terrible tragedies happen. But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people."

Vance added that Trump was in good health and was quite energetic at this age as well. USA Today further stated that concerns about the president's health had resurfaced in recent months. While the comments by Vance were made quite recently, it could not be confirmed that those were what sparked the speculations and rumors in the first place. 

According to Times Now News, different type of speculations and rumors had led many netizens to believe that something has possibly happened to Donald Trump. This reportedly included some netizens' claims that the president wouldn't be doing any public appearances on August 30 and 31.

While the rumors about Trump's demise had been debunked, it is to clarify that no such information had been acknowledged by the White House as well.

In July 2025, the White House announced that Donald Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency.