Does a photo from Ivanka Trump's graduation, with Donald Trump not shown, prove that Trump did not attend his daughter's commencement ceremony? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found Ivanka Trump's Facebook photo album documenting her 2004 graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. The album has two photos, one of them shows her in a graduation cap and gown, standing with her father and her two brothers.
The implied claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published on April 19, 2024. The on-screen caption read:
Ivanka's graduation.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Apr 23 13:26:03 2024 UTC)
The post followed a Truth Social post by the former president in which he complained that he would be kept from his son Barron's graduation in May of 2024 by the ongoing hush-money trial on charges against him. Trump's April 15, 2024, post read in part:
Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT Student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony ... because a seriously Conflicted and Corrupt New York State Judge wants me in Criminal Court ...
The Facebook post with its one photo that does not include Donald Trump among those pictured implies that he did not attend his daughter's graduation.
A reverse image search of the photograph led us to a blog site called Admissions.blog where the photograph was featured (archived here). The caption read, "Ivanka Trump and family pose between Locust Walk and Jon M. Huntsman Hall on Penn's campus in May 2004." Below is a screenshot of the photograph and caption:
(Source: Admissions.blog screenshot taken on Tue Apr 23 18:20:16 2024 UTC)
The reverse image search also led us to the website famefocus.com with anothber image of Ivanka, Ivana's aunt, Eric and Don Jr., seemingly at the same graduation (archived here). Ivanka is wearing the same graduation regalia and holding what appears to be the same boquet of roses.
Finally, a reverse image search of the photo found on famefocus.com led us to an online photo album of Ivanka Trump's 2004 graduation (archived here). The May 2011 album from her verified Facebook account has two photos in it, the one found on famefocus.com and one in which Donald Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr., and daughter Ivanka pose with their father. Below is a screenshot of that photo, which includes Donald Trump:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Apr 23 17:34:11 2024 UTC)
The photo album is titled "Wharton Graduation," referring to the business school on University of Pennsylvania's campus. Ivanka Trump's caption reads:
In honor of graduation season, here are a few photos from my own graduation from Wharton. I remember that day so clearly, it was such an incredible feeling!
Agence France-Presse has also debunked this claim here.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Donald Trump are here.
