Fact Check: This Pic Supposedly Showing Donald and Ivanka Trump On a Bed Has Raised Some Eyebrows

Claim:

A photograph authentically shows Donald Trump with his daughter Ivanka as a child, posing on a bed.

Rating:

A photo supposedly showing former U.S. President Donald Trump with his daughter Ivanka as a child, posing on a bed, has circulated online for years. Critics of the former president have shared it as alleged evidence of him supposedly acting inappropriate toward her.

But whether the photo depicted an authentic moment between the father and daughter was unknown. We have been unable to find reliable evidence with which to determine if the photo is real. In other words, it's unknown if, or to what extent, digital-editing software created the image.

The photo surfaced on X (formerly Twitter) in January 2024 and has existed on various other social media platforms, including Facebook, Imgur, Pinterest, Quora, and Reddit.

(X user @MarioVe69225752)

TinEye reverse-image search results showed it has circulated online at least since 2016. "Does [Trump] have any clue how this looks to strangers?" one Reddit user commented on the image.

Snopes reached out to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign to ask about the in-question image. We asked if it was authentic, and, if so, for details on the location and timing of the photoshoot. We will update this report when, or if, we receive a response.

It's worth noting that, in many early posts with the image, it was seemingly a photo of a printed photograph. "From the Trump family photo album," one X post claimed without evidence. It's unknown if a hard copy of the photo exists, and, if so, where. We did not find a mention of it in any published source.

We did notice that the photograph's background seemingly matched that of other photographs from inside Donald Trump's penthouse in New York (see image below).

(X user @missannabiller, France24.com)

If you possess any concrete information regarding the photo's origins, please reach out to us.

This was not the first rumor about Donald Trump and his children that Snopes has fact-checked. For instance, in January 2024, we confirmed a photo authentically depicted Donald Trump with two of his children, Ivanka and Eric, alongside Jeffrey Epstein in 1993. We also investigated rumors that Donald Trump said he'd like to date Ivanka and debunked a false claim that Ivanka once said she would "mace" him if he wasn't her father.

Sources:

Evon, Dan. "Did Donald Trump Say He'd Like to Date His Daughter?" Snopes, 10 July 2015, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-date-daughter/.

---. "Ivanka Trump Said If Donald Trump Wasn't Her Father, She Would 'Mace' Him?" Snopes, 25 Nov. 2016, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ivanka-trump-said-if-donald-trump-wasnt-her-father-she-would-mace-him/.

Mahdawi, Arwa. "Donald Trump Was Allegedly Creepy about Ivanka – but Will His Fans Care?" The Guardian, 1 July 2023. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/01/donald-trump-ivanka-miles-taylor-book-claims.

PerryCook, Taija. "Were Trump and 2 of His Kids, Ivanka and Eric, Seen with Jeffrey Epstein in '93?" Snopes, 3 Jan. 2024, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-ivanka-and-eric-with-epstein/.

Updates:

Feb. 19, 2024: This fact check's rating was changed from "Unproven" to "True" after Snopes uncovered evidence to link the in-question image to a 1995 issue of InStyle magazine.

February 20, 2024: This article was updated to include a response from photographer Firooz Zahedi to Snopes' inquiry about the photo.

February 21, 2024: This article was updated to include additional information from the reader who sent Snopes digital scans of the printed article featuring the in-question photograph.