Barron Trump gestures after his father is introduced at a rally.
Barron Trump is at the centre of a false claim about the assassination attempt on his father Donald. Image by AP PHOTO

Old picture of Trump’s teenage son used in latest shooting claim

Tom Wark July 19, 2024
WHAT WAS CLAIMED

A photo shows Barron Trump at the Pennsylvania rally where Donald Trump was shot.

OUR VERDICT

False. The photo was taken at a different rally, several days before the shooting.

AAP FACTCHECK – A photo shows Barron Trump in the front row of the rally when his father Donald was shot, social media users claim.

This is false. The photo actually shows the former US president’s youngest son at a different rally in another state four days before the shooting.

The claim has been made by dozens of Facebook posts, with many using identical text to describe the image.

A Facebook post incorrectly describing the Barron Trump image.
 The image of Barron Trump was actually taken at another rally in Florida on July 9. 

“Imagine having a front row seat to your dad getting shot in the head,” the Facebook posts say.

“Barron will never forget what they did to his father!”

However, a Google reverse image search reveals the same photo of Trump’s son featured in an X post, and was taken several days before the July 13 rally in Pennsylvania where the former president was shot.

The X post clearly dating the image of Barron Trump.

In the image, Barron is standing next to his half-brother, Eric Trump, at a July 9 campaign rally at one of their father’s golf clubs in western Miami.

News footage from the July 9 rally shows the teenager waving to the crowd and dressed in the same outfit as the photo that features in deceptive Facebook posts.

There’s no evidence that Barron was at the July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, and a statement from his mother Melania Trump did not mention that she or her son attended. 

This claim has also been debunked by PolitiFact and USA Today.

The Verdict

False – The claim is inaccurate.

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