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Quick Take
Adult film star Stormy Daniels recently testified at the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump, who is charged with falsifying records during his 2016 campaign to conceal an affair with Daniels. Social media posts falsely claim to show evidence of the affair by sharing a fake, digitally altered photo of Donald and Melania Trump with Daniels.
Full Story
The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is winding down in a Manhattan courtroom, where Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to keep extramarital affairs from becoming public during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The trial, which began April 15, has included the testimony of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who described her sexual encounter with Trump and $130,000 in payments she received from attorney Michael Cohen on behalf of Trump as part of an agreement not to disclose their relationship. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied having an affair with Daniels.
Social media users have weighed in with their own purported evidence of Trump’s relationship with Daniels. A May 16 Instagram post, which has received more than 5,000 likes, purports to show an image of Donald and Melania Trump with Daniels, all of them in formal wear, and text that reads: “A Bible salesman, his pregnant wife, and the woman he never ever ever ever met, but paid her $130,000 for something they never ever ever ever did…..”
A Facebook post shares the same image and text, with the caption: “Boooooooom (I got the receipts).”
But the “receipts” aren’t real. The picture shared in the posts was digitally altered using two photos to create a fake composite image. The original photo of the Trumps showed them with Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka in a Daily Mail article, photographed at a 2005 event. The photo of Daniels was lifted from coverage of a 2006 awards show.
The Snopes fact-checking website debunked posts that shared the same manipulated image in 2018.
Testimony in Trump’s criminal trial may wrap up and the jury could begin deliberations the week of May 20.
Correction, May 20: We had the wrong date for the photo of Daniels. It was taken Jan. 7, 2006, at the Adult Video News awards show. Daniels won best supporting actress and best screenplay for a parody that year, according to the New York Times.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Associated Press. “Trump hush money trial: A timeline of key events in the case.” 13 May 2024.
Bustillo, Ximena. “Trump’s New York criminal trial could head to jury deliberation as soon as next week.” NPR. 16 May 2024.
Evon, Dan. “Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and Stormy Daniels?” Snopes. 21 Mar 2018.
Michallon, Clemence. “Donald Trump called his pregnant wife Melania ‘a monster’ and ‘a blimp’ just two months after ‘grab them by the p***y’ comments.” Daily Mail. 9 Oct 2016.
Reiss, Adam, et al. “Stormy Daniels spars with Trump’s lawyer during hush money trial testimony.” NBC News. 9 May 2024.
Sisak, Michael R., et al. “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme.” Associated Press. 4 Apr 2023.
Supreme Court of the State of New York. “The People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump.” 4 Apr 2023.