Are these fake hands ... or more fake news?

IT SOUNDS like the plot from a Hollywood action film: a mysterious bald Secret Service agent, a controverisal President and a pair of prosthetic hands hiding a gun.

Internet sleuths sparked online speculation yesterday that an agent on patrol at Donald Trump’s inauguration parade was wearing the fake hands to allow him to hold a rifle under his coat.

But the theory was debunked hours later when a video emerged of the man adjusting his tie, proving that his hands were real.

The bald agent, pictured, was seen clutching his right little finger with his left hand as Mr Trump and his wife Melania walked along Pennsylvania Avenue. The light also made it look as if the hands were plastic and not real.

A gaming blogger wrote: ‘Many members of the military and law enforcement community noticed something very unusual about one of Trump’s bodyguards. The conclusion they reached was that he did indeed have tactical fake arms.’

The theory was that the agent would be able to fire his weapon at a would-be assassin more quickly if his hands were on it already.

But an expert on Task and Purpose, a military website, later wrote: ‘The bodyguard (is seen) exiting one of the vehicles in the motorcade, and adjusts his tie and coat the way a man – a human man with functional arms – does whenever he’s about to appear in public.’

The story came to light after the row over fake news circulating on the internet. One of Mr Trump’s top aides, Kellyanne Conway, recently said his team did not lie but presented ‘alternative facts’.