Fake News: Mary And Fred Trump Pictured With Son Donald Are NOT In Their KKK Outfits

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke
Fake News: Mary And Fred Trump Pictured With Son Donald Are NOT In Their KKK Outfits
Does a 1999 photo show Mary and Fred Trump posing with their son Donald in their KKK outfits? No, that's not true: It is a digitally-altered image made from a real photograph of the future President Trump and his parents in 1994. The original image showed Mary Trump wearing a dress and Fred Trump in a business suit. Lead Stories previously reported that there is no proof that the Trumps were ever affiliated with the racist Ku Klux Klan.

The fake image originated in a meme shared as early as November 2017 and was shared more recently in a post (archived here) published on October 27, 2019 under the title "Picture says a 1000 words". The text read:

Mary and Fred Trump with son Donald in their KKK outfits 1999

This is what social media users saw:

We found this image online that appears to have been taken at the same time as the original photo that was altered.

Real trump not kkk.jpg

It was published in November 2017 by The Independent newspaper with a caption saying it was taken in 1994.

The claim that the Trumps were involved with the KKK was initially linked to a New York Times clipping from 1927 that listed Fred Trump as among several men arrested during a New York riot involving KKK members clashing with police. Lead Stories debunked the claim that it was proof the elder Trump was a KKK member. Read that story titled "Fake News: No Proof Trump's Grandfather Was A Pimp And Tax Evader Or That His father A Member Of The KKK."

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!

Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223, follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion