Trump called Jack Smith 'loony leftist'? No, image is fabricated | Fact check

The claim: Image shows Trump post attacking Jack Smith

An Oct. 12 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of what appears to be a Truth Social post from former President Donald Trump.

“The loony leftist Jack Smith is interfering with my perfect reelection which was stolen from me by Joe Biden and Kamilla (sic),” the purported post reads in part. It concludes by calling Smith “Radical Jack.”

Between this post and others like it on Facebook, the image was shared more than 200 times in four days. It also circulated widely on Threads, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: Altered

Trump didn’t post this. The image is a fabrication. There is no record of the post on his Truth Social profile.

No record of post on Trump’s Truth Social profile

Federal prosecutor Jack Smith was appointed in November 2022 to lead the federal government’s investigation of Trump and his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election. His 165-page filing released Oct. 2 lays out the allegations against Trump – who has pleaded not guilty – while arguing the former president does not deserve immunity from criminal charges. Smith also has urged a federal appeals court to reinstate the classified documents case against Trump in Florida after a federal judge dismissed it in July.

While Trump has attacked Smith in prior Truth Social posts, the image in the Facebook post is not one of those. It is a fabrication.

Fact check: Those aren't Trump's grades from Fordham. Image in video is a 'forgery'

There is no record of the post in question on Trump’s Truth Social account. While legitimate news outlets have covered prior attacks by Trump on Smith, there are no such reports about the contents of this purported post. USA TODAY reached out to a Trump campaign spokesperson but did not immediately receive a response.

The supposed Truth Social post also contains some clues that reveal it is a fabrication.

First, it lacks a timestamp to establish the specific date and time it was shared. It instead contains an indication that it purportedly was shared 35 minutes before the screenshot was captured. That notation is identical in every version found by USA TODAY – an indication it is a fabrication that traces to a single source. An authentic post would have been captured and shared at various times and stages of spread by Trump’s nearly 8 million followers.

Additionally, neither the screenshot’s font nor the vertical spacing of its text match real Truth Social posts.

Trump has used his social media account to attack Smith, reacting to the document release in October 2024 by calling Smith “deranged” and “the hand picked Prosecutor of the Harris-Biden DOJ” and labeling the filing as “falsehood-ridden” and “Unconstitutional.”

USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that images show social media posts from Trump about calling his would-be assassins “0-2,” claiming Americans “can’t even afford cookies” and meeting a “Civil War soldier.”

USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the image but did not immediately receive any responses.

Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• Donald Trump, accessed Oct. 14, Truth Social account

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 story was updated to correct a typo.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Image of Trump post attacking Jack Smith is fabricated | Fact check