Image of Melania Trump next to Stormy Daniels is manipulated

"When Melania Trump looks at this picture today, knowing what we all know ….what is she thinking?" says a March 24, 2023 tweet.

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Screenshot of a tweet taken April 5, 2023

The image made the rounds elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook. It has circulated online since at least 2018.

On March 30, a New York grand jury indicted Trump on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to Daniels, plunging his 2024 White House bid into uncharted territory. The former president -- the first to face criminal charges -- surrendered and was arraigned in Manhattan five days later.

Trump is accused of arranging a $130,000 payment to Daniels through his former personal attorney just days before the November 2016 election to buy her silence about a 2006 tryst at a Lake Tahoe resort. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to the payment.

The former president's legal trouble has inspired a series of false and misleading claims on social media -- including the supposed photo of Daniels with the Trumps.

A reverse image search reveals the photo shared online actually consists of two separate pictures.

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Screenshot of a Daily Mail article taken April 6, 2023

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Screenshot of the Wikimedia Commons website taken April 5, 2023

 

The first shows Trump, his wife Melania and his daughter Ivanka at Fashion Group International's Night of Stars event in New York City on October 27, 2005.

The Daily Mail published the unedited photo in a 2016 article and credited a contributor on Shutterstock. AFP was unable to locate the original picture, although similar images are published on the stock photo website.

Getty Images photographer Evan Agostini also took pictures of the Trumps at the event.

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Donald Trump, Visionary Business Leader award honoree, and his wife Melania attend Fashion Group International's 22nd Annual "Night Of Stars" at Cipriani's 42nd Street October 27, 2005 in New York City ( Getty Images North America / Evan Agostini)

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Socialite Ivanka Trump attends Fashion Group International's 22nd Annual "Night Of Stars" at Cipriani's 42nd Street October 27, 2005 in New York City ( Getty Images North America / Evan Agostini)

 

The photo of Daniels, meanwhile, was taken at the Adult Video News Awards (AVN) in 2006.

The actress herself shared the image on Twitter in May 2020. Getty Images photographer Ethan Miller also captured Daniels at the event.

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Adult film actress Stormy Daniels accepts an award at the Adult Video News Awards Show at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino January 7, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada ( Getty Images North America / Ethan Miller)

AFP has debunked other false and misleading claims about Trump's indictment here, here and here.