FACT CHECK: Viral Image Claims To Show Trump’s Parents Wearing KKK Robes

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows President Donald Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary, wearing Ku Klux Klan (KKK) robes.

Verdict: False

This is a photoshopped image that originally showed Trump and his parents wearing normal clothes without any Klan insignias.

Fact Check:

Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, had five children, including Donald. His father worked as a real estate developer in New York City, and his mother, a Scottish immigrant, supported various charitable causes.

The Facebook post, which has been shared more than 230 times, shows the Trumps dressed in KKK robes while posing for a photo with their son, who’s wearing a suit and red tie.

“Mary and Fred Trump with son Donald in their KKK outfits, 1999,” reads the caption.

However, a reverse image search reveals that the original photograph, found on Shutterstock, has been manipulated. KKK robes have been digitally inserted over Fred and Mary Trump’s regular clothing, and the background has been simplified. It also appears to have been flipped.

Shutterstock and another stock photo website also date the image back to the early 90s – not 1999, as the Facebook post claims. (RELATED: Viral Image Claims To Show The KKK Marching At The 1924 Democratic National Convention)

Trump’s father was arrested in 1927 at a KKK parade in Queens, New York, after Klansmen clashed with police, but there is not enough documentation to determine his involvement in the event. He was never formally charged or cited as a member of the white supremacist organization, reports Politifact.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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