Donald, Melania Trump didn't pose for photo with Stormy Daniels. Image is altered | Fact check
The claim: Image shows Donald and Melania Trump posing with Stormy Daniels
A May 14 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania purportedly posing with Stormy Daniels, the former adult film actress at the center of his criminal trial in New York.
“This photo was probably taken around the time tRump (sic) was attempting to get Stormy Daniels on his TV show,” reads part of the post's caption. “Meanwhile Melania is pregnant with future son Barron Trump.”
A version of the post from the liberal group Occupy Democrats was shared more than 2,900 times in two days before it was corrected.
Fact check roundup: Debunking misinformation about Stormy Daniels amid Trump hush money trial
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
Our rating: Altered
The image was digitally edited to add Daniels in place of Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. Daniels is not in the original image, which was taken in 2005.
Image doctored to replace Ivanka Trump with Daniels
Trump, the first former president to stand trial in a criminal case, is accused of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. A photo of Trump and Daniels together in July 2006 at Lake Tahoe is among the pieces of evidence introduced during the trial.
But a separate image circulating on social media purporting to show them along with Melania Trump is not real. It was digitally edited to add Daniels.
Fact check: Judge didn't OK Trump missing trial for rally; it was scheduled for trial break
The image published by Shutterstock shows Donald and Melania Trump posing with his daughter Ivanka Trump, not Daniels, on Oct. 27, 2005, at the Night of Stars Gala in New York. It was taken five months before Barron Trump was born.
The image of Daniels was taken in 2006 at the Adult Video News Awards, according to a description of the photo on Wikimedia Commons. Daniels also shared the image on X, formerly Twitter, in 2020.
Trump faces 34 felony counts that each carry a maximum sentence of four years, although New York law caps such sentences at 20 years. Legal experts say if Trump is convicted, a realistic sentence ranges from probation to four years in prison, although Trump would likely remain free on appeal during the duration of the presidential election, USA TODAY reported.
The hush money trial and Trump's other legal issues have generated significant misinformation. USA TODAY has debunked false claims that a judge told Trump he couldn’t attend son Barron Trump’s high school graduation, that Daniels wore a mushroom-printed dress to court and that a letter from Daniels denying an affair with Trump was “just found” in 2024.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories and AFP also debunked versions of the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Shutterstock Editorial (Internet Archive), Oct. 27, 2005, Donald, Melania and Ivanka Trump
Wikimedia Commons, Jan. 9, 2006, File: Stormy Daniels AVN Awards 2006.jpg
Stormy Daniels, May 24, 2020, X post
Biography, May 9, Barron Trump
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Doctored image shows Trumps posing with Stormy Daniels | Fact check