Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the late Billy Graham and a leading evangelical figure close to Donald Trump’s administration, doesn’t believe the president “knowingly” depicted himself as a Christ-like figure in a now-deleted AI-generated image.
In a post on his Truth Social account on Sunday, Trump depicted himself in a white robe and red sash with a glowing outstretched hand placed on the forehead of a man in a hospital bed. The president later said it showed “me as a doctor.”
In a statement shared with The Independent, Graham condemned what he called “ill-intended speculation” about the president’s image, standing in stark contrast to backlash from other faith leaders — including conservative evangelicals — who accused him of grotesque blasphemy and making a mockery of holy symbols to serve a political agenda.
“When I looked at the illustration, I didn’t jump to the same conclusion as some,” Graham said.
Advertisement
“There were no spiritual references — no halo, there were no crosses, no angels,” he added. “I think this is a lot to do about nothing. There is so much ill-intended speculation. I think his enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad.”
Rev Franklin Graham criticized ‘ill-intended speculation’ about Trump’s post and said the president’s ‘enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad’ (Reuters)
Graham said he did not believe Trump “would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ — that would certainly be inappropriate.”
“I’m thankful the president has made it very clear that this was not at all what he thought the AI-generated image was representing — he thought it was a doctor helping someone, and when he learned of the concerns, he immediately removed the post,” Graham added.
Graham, a prominent evangelist and president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has been allied with the president through both of his administrations.
He recently appeared at the White House with other Christian pastors, including Robert Jeffress, one of Trump’s longtime religious advisers who leads First Baptist Church in Dallas, to celebrate Easter.
Advertisement
On Palm Sunday, Trump shared a letter from Graham on his social media platform that addressed the president’s suggestion that he thought he was going to hell. “I don’t think there’s anything gonna get me in heaven, OK?” Trump speculated on Air Force One last year.
In response, Graham wrote: “Maybe you responded in jest, but it is an important issue to know for certain that your soul is secure and will spend eternity in the presence of God.”
At last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, Graham said, “love Donald Trump” and “we’ll never get another president” like him.
“That’s why it’s important that we do everything that we can to try to get him reelected,” he said.
Advertisement
Graham said he “misspoke” in a statement immediately after his remarks.
Graham, who is a longtime ally of Trump, said he is ‘thankful’ that the president claimed that the image was showing him as a ‘doctor’ (AFP/Getty)
But evangelical figures close to the president have thus far either declined to weigh in publicly or have opened the door for Trump to consider the episode a teachable moment.
“I’m not a Catholic, I’m an evangelical, but I appreciate how President Trump has defended religious freedom for people of all faiths, including millions of evangelicals and Catholics in the U.S. and around the world,” Graham said in his statement.
Advertisement
“He is the most pro-Christian, pro-life president in my lifetime and he doesn’t shy away from it,” he added. “I would hope that the President and Pope Leo can meet at some point, and that the Pope would have the opportunity to thank the President for his efforts to protect religious liberty.”
Everything you need to know ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg
Bayern Munich take on Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster Champions League semi-final second leg tonight.
After a stunning nine-goal thriller in Paris last week, the tie is finely poised, with PSG holding a narrow one-goal advantage heading into the clash at the Allianz Arena.
Advertisement
At one stage in the first leg, the French champions were cruising at 5-2, only for Bayern to fight back late on to keep their hopes alive and set up a thrilling decider.
Here is everything you need to know about how to watch the match.
What time is Bayern Munich v PSG kick-off?
The match will kick off at 8pm (BST) on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
What TV channel is Bayern Munich v PSG on? Is there a live stream?
The match will be shown live on TNT Sports 1, with coverage getting under way from 7:00pm BST.
Advertisement
TNT Sports subscribers can also watch the game via the HBO Max app and website.
Watch the Champions League and Europa League on TNT Sports
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
The UEFA Champions League is back on TNT Sports and fans can catch all the action on the TNT Sports Prime Video channel. A monthly subscription also includes select Premier League and FA Cup fixtures.
Advertisement
Bayern Munich v PSG team news
Bayern Munich will be without Serge Gnabry due to a thigh injury, while Lennart Karl and Raphael Guerreiro are both doubts as they continue to struggle with thigh and hamstring issues respectively.
Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, are missing Achraf Hakimi (hamstring) and Lucas Chevalier (hand), although they have no fresh injury concerns otherwise and no players currently listed as doubtful.
Quotes corner
Vincent Kompany: “They have an impressive quality in their squad, what their strength is, on top of the coaching and individual quality, is their age [of the squad]
“They are quite experienced, they progressed a lot, they gained more experience – there are very few teams in Europe like that. I am thinking about Barcelona, for example, they progressed a lot because their best players had more experience, and I think that is a reason that PSG can stay at this level for many more years to come.
Advertisement
“They are well set up when it comes to the age of their players. We respect them a lot, and they provide us with difficult games.
“They are difficult to handle, but we will do the same, and I think we will win.”
Luis Enrique: “When you play this kind of match, against this kind of opposition, who are without doubt the strongest team we have played against, the first thing I want to transmit to the players is that we have a one goal advantage, but that is nothing in football.
“We have the experience from last year. We are always striving to be at our best for our supporters.”
Tom Daley has taken to social media to share a rather cheeky wedding snap with husband Dustin Lance Black to mark almost a decade since they tied the knot in a romantic ceremony at Dartmoor National Park
17:51, 06 May 2026Updated 17:51, 06 May 2026
Tom Daley has shared a cheeky unseen snap from his wedding to Dustin Lance Black. The Olympic diver, 31, tied the knot with Hollywood director Dustin, 51, in 2017 and went on to become parents to Robbie Ray, seven, as well as three-year-old Phoenix Rose together.
The first picture showed the grooms walking through the gardens with their families and friends behind them, but in the second photo, the pair of them were standing at a set of urinals, with Dustin cheekily gazing downwards.
Advertisement
Tom wrote: “Nine year wedding anniversary,” and emblazoned his sweet comment with a red love heart emoji.
The pair met when former Celebrity Traitors star was at a a low point in his diving when he was suffering from a lack of confidence, but that didn’t stop him making a play for his now-husband.
Advertisement
Recalling that time, Tom recently explained: “I got to a really low point with my diving where I thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep going like I didn’t see the point in carrying on. Meeting Lance, he kind of inspired me to want to carry on. Inspired me to want to be great at what I do.
“He inspired me to want to be the best person that I could be. It was really special, because I think it was the first time that I realised that being attracted to men wasn’t just a sexual thing. I actually could fall in love with a man.”
Meanwhile, Dustin explained that it was Tom who took charge and gave him his number to get things started. He said: “My phone, he puts his number in, and when he hands it back and I look at it, he’s put a winky face at the end of his phone number. No heterosexual man has ever put a winky face at the end of their number when they give it to another dude!
“The first things we started sharing were about the fact that he had, not so long ago lost his dad. I had not so long ago just lost my big brother, who was like my dad, because I never had that. I had recently won an Academy Award. He had won his first Olympic medal.
“We were able to share with each other the post accomplishment blues and devastation, the way that when you win something you only ever dreamed about, there’s something inside you that disassembles and has to be put back together, and that there’s almost no one on the planet you can share that with, because people think, Well, gosh, you should be so grateful!”
Tom previously explained that despite their 20-year age gap, the pair have managed to simply “align” with one another thanks to the passage of time. He told UsWeekly: “One hundred percent. It’s funny because the people that know us know that I’m the more mature person that kinds of runs the show in the house.
“As we get older, I think we both align very well on what we want to achieve. We’re both really big dreamers. I think that was the biggest thing for us, that we’re both so supportive of each other. We don’t limit the other person’s dreams. We really make each other feel like we can achieve whatever we set our minds to!”
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
One person was taken to hospital via land ambulance and the other was taken via air ambulance
Two people were injured and left hospitalised after a one-vehicle crash near Rhayader, Powys. Dyfed-Powys Police received reports of the collision just after 3pm on Tuesday, May 5 on an unclassified road between Abbeycwmhir and Rhayader.
Advertisement
Ambulance crews and an air ambulance attended the scene, taking two people to hospital after sustaining injuries during the crash. Both individuals were taken to hospital, one by air and one by land. Neither of their injuries were believed to be life-threatening or life-changing.
The road was closed while emergency services attended the scene and reopened at approximately 5.30pm.
A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said: “Dyfed-Powys Police attended to a single-vehicle road traffic collision on an unclassified road between Abbeycwmhir and Rhayader in Powys. The collision was reported just after 3pm yesterday.
“Two people were injured in the collision, though neither of their injuries were believed to be life-threatening or life-changing. Both individuals went to hospital, one by air ambulance and one by land ambulance.
Advertisement
“The road was closed while emergency services attended the scene and reopened at approximately 5.30pm.”
Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice
The clinching argument for a long weekend to Baku, Azerbaijan’s ancient capital on the Silk Road, was that for one weekend only almost all the streets in the medieval Old Town would be covered by hand-woven carpets. There would be hundreds of them, laid head-to-head in a magical mosaic of colour and artful designs.
I also fancifully conjectured that Shakespeare might have been considering the festival when, in The Tempest, he poetically extemporised how “the earth’s a carpet laid before the sun”. Well, Baku certainly took his word literally. The capital was transformed into a giant installation of colourful knots, threads and weaves covering its cobbled streets. Dealers, weavers, stitchers, collectors and historians gathered from 19 nations to debate and celebrate this ancient artistry, as some carpets, we learnt, were first woven more than 2,000 years ago.
The capital was transformed into a giant installation of colourful knots, threads and weaves (International Carpet Festival)
It was an academic forum alongside a place for thousands of visitors to enjoy the festival’s dramatic street theatre, surreally coinciding with the Baku marathon, the country’s first international race with the full 26-mile course. One artist painted serene faces onto rugs on an easel, next to a pop-up children’s football pitch entirely composed of rugs. Earlier in the day, experts from Japan and Nepal pitched arguments about the carpet’s role in aiding the GDP of their countries as well as defining their national identity.
This carpet fest was imaginative and startling, mirroring how Baku has redefined itself via its architecture: putting medieval and modernist masterpieces side by side. This is a country that has deliberately placed art and culture at the centre of its development, latterly funded by its oil fortune. It has given Azerbaijan a standout national identity, distinct from its grey, Soviet-controlled existence before 1991, when Perestroika loosened Russian hegemony. But it is only in the last 25 years that its economy has taken off, combining taste, style and fiscal growth, aided by a formative partnership with BP.
Azerbaijan is certainly more present on the world stage. It straddled the world of petroeconomics and environmental policies when it hosted Cop 29 in 2024. It is now a fixture in the Formula One calendar and hosted the European winter sports championships this year.
Advertisement
Not exactly a magic carpet, but the overnight jet leaving Heathrow at 10pm allows you to arrive in Baku at 6am. Three nights is a perfect amount of time for a taster of the capital. Not only is the carpet museum in Baku the largest in the world, but it is even shaped like a folding rug. It shares the skyline with one of the great masterpieces of modernist architecture: Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Centre, also designed to look like a surface that has been lifted, folded, and frozen in motion – very similar to the ripples of a carpet, a comparison that is made often. While a carpet is flexible and soft, the building imitates its folds with rigid concrete and steel. It is impossible to overestimate how in Azerbaijan, carpets are a major traditional art form.
The Heydar Aliyev Centre is often compared to a carpet (Getty Images / iStockPhoto)
A weekend is the ideal length of time for walking around the safe and easy city. In Baku, you can go from exploring medieval stone walls straight to futuristic parametric design in under 20 minutes. This walled city is a dense mix of Islamic, Persian and local Shirvan styles, with caravanserais, mosques and narrow lanes. Among the key monuments is the 12th-century Maiden Tower, which is well worth the climb for a panoramic view of the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, a Unesco-listed masterpiece.
Reflecting the oil boom of the early 20th century are landmarks such as the Ismailiyya Palace, a Venetian Gothic revival building, the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall with its Italian Renaissance influence and Baku City Hall, with its Beaux-Arts design. They are demonstrative of a time of optimism, when European architects reshaped the city into a kind of Paris of the East.
Back to the carpet festival, though, where Emin Mammadov was presiding over the affair. He is a dashing entrepreneur and chair of the carpet board, whose turbocharged ambition is to grow the festival, which is now in its third year. Surprise and quality are his watchwords, as modern and ancient swirl together like patterns on a traditional carpet, all contrasting and combining.
Advertisement
A woman weaves at the International Carpet Festival (International Carpet Festival)
“We are inviting the world to see that carpets are the key to understanding art and economies through symbolism and natural displays. We all connect through a vision of creativity and fellowship as we invite the world to join this beautiful celebration of art and artisans and prove the art of the possible,” he explained.
There is talk of expansion and more partnerships for next year’s festival. It might include carpets’ role in Hollywood films, in poetry (Shakespeare has no monopoly) and live debates about the role women play as skilled craft practitioners. There is also discussion of how artists from Holbein to Velasquez were transfixed by the woven wonder of wool and silk. Carpets – red, magic or even flying – have always transfixed the imagination.
In Disney’s Aladdin, the magic carpet is a central character, not just a prop. It becomes a symbol of freedom, imagination and movement beyond physical space. In The Grand Budapest Hotel, director Wes Anderson builds a world saturated with patterned interiors – especially carpets, wallpapers, and textiles – which reinforce the film’s obsession with design, memory and artificial perfection. There is even an entry into the horror film genre. In The Shining, the Overlook Hotel’s geometric carpets are iconic in their own right. Their impossible, maze-like patterns echo the film’s psychological disorientation and hidden spatial logic.
Aida Mahmudova, an acclaimed artist in Baku as well as an alumna of London’s Central St Martin’s (Geordie Greig / International Carpet Festival)
This year, the link between painting and carpets was a key theme. One of the most dramatic revelations was the work of Aida Mahmudova, an acclaimed artist in Baku as well as an alumna of London’s Central St Martin’s, whose eclectic works combine powerful abstraction and something similar to Frank Auerbach’s encrusted, tactile, painted masterpieces.
Her paintings have a softer palette of colours than Auerbach’s, which ripple and engage with a passionate intensity. Her pictures have been made into carpets, cross-fertilising the art forms and spinning a modern twist to this ancient craft. Another highlight is the work of Assel Sabircangizi, or Assol, a Kazakh artist creating stunning portraits by brushing and spraying oil paint onto existing carpets. They make for epic pictures, which reinvent Mughal portraiture for the modern age.
The festival sets out to surprise and steers away from the stereotypical image of endless negotiations with sellers in the souk. This is the moment to see carpets as art and investment, but, most importantly, to alter cliched preconceptions by revealing national and regional identities in carpets.
Advertisement
The work of Asol, who reinvents traditional portraiture (International Carpet Festival)
In the Old City, with its echoes of Prague, it is delightful just to sit back and let the world go by in its maze of labyrinthine streets. Drinking the local wines and vodka in its tiny bars, or trying baklava in a tea room, is heavenly. Spinach and lamb pancakes and glassfuls of tea make enticing fare. Luxury shopping in the new town offers more brands than Bond Street, only cheaper. Value for money is a definite plus.
The advantage of a short visit is that the city is easy, and colourful, and the cultural diet offered ranges from high to low. The only frustration is that there is much more to do – locals will tell you to visit the snow-capped mountains for skiing, to chill on the sandy beaches, to try the jazz, and lemon, and pomegranate festivals, and also take a road trip. The country boasts nine climate zones, from subtropical to desert to freezing mountain tops.
A modern transformation is still taking place in Baku (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A modern cultural transformation is still taking place in Baku. One of the key figures is Anar Alakbarov, assistant to the president and executive director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
“Art creates a space for us all to value the past, but to also re-evaluate and enhance the present, which invests in the future. Beauty and a celebration of art has been a way of life here with carpets and ceramics. We learn from that and continue that tradition,” he said, before heading for the coast to take part in the marathon.
Leaving Baku early in the morning, I gazed out from my taxi at the two 21st-century Flame Towers. Nearby are the stone palaces, more than 500 years old. Few would argue with Shakespeare when he celebrated the intrinsic combination of power and passion seen through a carpet – and the impressiveness of a trip to Baku is similarly irrefutable. Is there a more magnificent ice breaker when someone asks me what I got up to at the weekend?
Advertisement
How to do it
Flights to Baku from London Gatwick with Azerbaijan Airlines take around five-and-a-half hours, starting from £375.
A man has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving following a fatal crash on the East Lancs Road last week (May 1) in which a motorcyclist was killed.
Advertisement
Emergency services raced to the scene following the collision between a car and a motorbike, which took place at around 2pm on Friday near to Walkden Road in Worsley.
The motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, was taken to hospital but was sadly later pronounced dead. Now, Greater Manchester Police have charged a man in connection with the incident.
Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter
In a full statement, they said: “A man has been charged following a fatal collision on East Lancashire Road , Worsley on Friday 1 May 2026.
Advertisement
“Christopher Almond (18/11/1974) of Marsh Road, Little Hulton has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving and driving a motor vehicle with alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit.
“He has been remanded into custody for a further hearing at Manchester Crown Court on Monday 8 June 2026.”
Commenting on the variant of the virus linked to the outbreak, the Andes virus, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “With this particular hantavirus, the Andes virus, it is known very rarely to spread between people with close contact, usually symptomatic individuals who are in close contact with each other.
The court heard that the 43-year-old was investigated by police back in 2024, when officers uncovered hundreds of indecent images of children on his mobile phone.
This was following information officers had received relating to a PayPal account, which was linked to Isherwood, being used to purchase indecent images of children.
Advertisement
These images 52 category A images – the most severe form of abuse involving child rape – as well as 72 category B and 323 in category C.
Isherwood’s phone was also found to contain a picture of a young girl, who was identified and located in Warrington.
She informed police that she had been sexually abused by Isherwood when she was under the age of 13.
Isherwood had engaged in sexual activity with the young girl by touching her genitals orally, masturbating in front of her and encouraging her to perform a sex act on him.
Advertisement
The 43-year-old, of Shipton Street in Bolton but formerly of Warrington, denied the sexual offences, pleaded not guilty and forced his victim to endure a trial at court.
He was later found guilty by a jury and later jailed for his crimes, as well as ordered to abide by a sexual harm prevention order and remain on the sex offenders register ‘until further order’.
A restraining order was also put in place to protect his victim for the next 18 years.
“Isherwood is clearly a danger to children and has quite rightly been handed a significant prison sentence to reflect the severity of his crimes,” said DC Briony Shirley following Isherwood’s sentencing.
Advertisement
“Being in possession of indecent images of children is never a victimless crime, and on this occasion, officers identified and subsequently safeguarded a girl who Isherwood had previously abused.
“The fact that he had then continued to look at images of children following this shows that he had absolutely no regard for anything other than satisfying his twisted and perverted sexual desires.
“I hope the victim in this case has been able to get some closure over what happened to her, knowing that Isherwood is locked up where he cannot do this to anyone else.
“If you have been a victim of similar offences, please report it to Cheshire Police by contacting us on 101 or reporting it through our website.”
Three other occupants were arrested for taking a vehicle without consent
16:54, 06 May 2026Updated 16:58, 06 May 2026
A teenage girl is in a critical condition in hospital following a police chase in Bolton last night (Tuesday, May 5).
Greater Manchester Police said that the vehicle crashed on Walker Fold Road in the north Bolton area yesterday evening following ‘a brief pursuit’. Photos from the scene appear to show the tracks of a car coming off the road and colliding with a tree.
The pursuit began at around 6:30pm when the car activated an ANPR camera in the Bolton area, having previously been marked as a suspicious vehicle, GMP said.
Advertisement
Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter
Officers from the Traffic unit later spotted the same vehicle, which failed to stop on Old Kiln Lane. The vehicle then crashed on Walker Fold Road after a brief pursuit, the force said.
One of the occupants, a 17-year-old girl, received serious, life-threatening injuries in the crash. She was treated at the scene and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The driver – a 17-year-old boy – was arrested on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking without consent, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, assault an emergency worker, possession of a bladed article and possession of a controlled drug.
Advertisement
A 19-year-old man and an 18-year-old female, both believed to be passengers, were treated for minor injuries and were arrested for aggravated vehicle taking without the owner’s consent.
The force’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is asking anyone for information about the incident, including dashcam footage, to call 0161 856 4741 quoting incident number 2936-05/05/2025.
GMP also said they notified the IOPC ‘as is standard practice following incidents of this nature’ and would be supporting their investigation.
-in-Grapevine-0i8485c8.jpeg)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login