Fake photo of Trump supporter spreads amid Epstein files vote
- Published on November 18, 2025 at 23:30
- 1 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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An image purporting to show one of Donald Trump's supporters wearing an "I don't care if Trump is a pedophile" shirt circulated online after US lawmakers released emails in which the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly mentioned the president. But the picture is doctored; the original dates to 2018 and shows the man in campaign attire supporting the 2020 Republican ticket.
"No words..." says a November 16, 2025 Facebook post sharing the photo.
Similar posts spread widely across Facebook and other platforms including Instagram, Threads and X. A Democratic state senator in Iowa was among those who shared it.
The image cropped up in the days before lawmakers voted overwhelmingly November 18 to release government records on Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex crimes against underage girls and young women.
Trump, who was pictured partying with Epstein during a 15-year friendship before the pair reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal, resisted making the material public for months before saying November 17 that he backed their release. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
He previously called the Epstein saga a "hoax," withdrew support from ally Marjorie Taylor Greene and demanded investigations into former president Bill Clinton after Democratic lawmakers released emails in which Epstein allegedly said Trump "knew about the girls" and "spent hours" with a victim.
The move to publicize unclassified documents related to the investigation has divided the US leader's typically loyal Republican party.
However, the image of a man sporting a red top saying he does not care "if Trump is a pedophile" is fake.
A reverse image search surfaced the original photo on the picture-sharing service Flickr, where photographer Lorie Shaull posted it October 5, 2018 (archived here). Shaull wrote that it showed a Trump supporter waiting to enter a rally in Rochester, Minnesota.
In the original, the man's shirt reads: "Trump Pence 2020 Keep America Great!"
The picture also appears on Wikimedia Commons (archived here).
See more of the altered content related to Epstein that AFP has debunked here.
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