US Marines deny soldier who spoke at a Trump rally’s claim that he was the one who lifted the Afghan baby over the wall in Kabul

• The Marines denied that an officer who spoke at a Trump rally was in a viral Afghanistan photo.
• The photo showed a Marine lifting a baby over a barbed-wire fence during the scurried evacuation.
• The DoD is also investigating Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark for speaking at a political rally.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The US Marines said on Friday that a soldier who spoke at a Trump rally, claiming he was “the guy that pulled the baby over the wall” in Kabul, was not the man seen holding the child in the widely circulated photo.

At a September 25, Trump rally in Perry, Georgia, Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark took the stage with former President Donald Trump and claimed he was the officer in an August 19 video who hoisted a baby girl over a barbed-wire fence as US forces were evacuating Afghans from the country.

“Hey, my name’s Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark. I’m here from Warner Robins, Georgia. I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall, and it’s definitely probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever done in my entire life,” he said at the rally.

At the rally, Trump introduced Clark and said he “helped evacuated children over the airport wall. You saw him. He did a great job,” as the crowd chanted, “U-S-A.”

Shortly after the incident, the Department of Defense announced an investigation into Clark, as reported by Task and Purpose, because the department restricts active duty members from speaking at political events.

A spokesperson for the Marines also denied that Clark was pictured in the photo.

“Regarding the viral photo that began circulating around August 20, 2021, the Marine identified in that particular image was not Lance Cpl. Clark,” Capt. Kelton Cochran, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit spokesperson, told Insider.

Peggy Clark, Lance Cpl. Clark’s mother, modified her son’s claim to CNN and said that her son was, in fact, present for the moment and was handed the baby by the colleague pictured grabbing the baby.

Insider reached out to the Marines to ask whether Clark was one of the adjacent Marines.