Category: News

In late August 2026, Snopes received emails and searches asking if it was true crews cut down dozens of cherry trees to pave the way for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., golf course renovations, specifically the East Potomac Golf Links property inside East Potomac Park, the site of the nation’s first cherry blossom planting.

Earlier in the year, the Trump administration revealed visual plans to overhaul the property into a championship-style golf course. Then, Trump announced on Truth Social that work on the golf course would begin Sept. 1. Earlier in the year, the DC Preservation League filed a lawsuit challenging the project, including citing crews dumping White House East Wing debris at the site.

Readers specifically asked if a rumor that between 60 and 158 cherry trees were chopped down was true, and whether the administration violated a court order by doing so. They also wanted to know if the alleged tree removal impacted the cherry tree collections gifted to the U.S. by Japan in 1910 and 1912.

For example, one reader emailed, “Despite court orders, Trump is moving forward with plans to remove 158 iconic cherry trees near the Tidal Basin and 60 have already been cut down.” 

Another email read, “Has Trump ordered the removal of dozens of cherry trees in DC that were a gift from Japan?”

Social media users shared variants of this claim on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived), among other platforms.

(X user @adamemedia1)

In sum, as of this writing on Sept. 1, we have found no evidence to support the claim, nor any examples of news media outlets reporting that dozens of cherry trees were removed from East Potomac Park, including any that arrived from Japan in 1910 or 1912. 

Regarding court orders, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes reportedly said on May 4 the court must be told if the renovation plans called for the removal of more than 10 trees. 

We haven’t given this multipart claim a true or false rating given the lack of conclusive evidence either way and the fact that it remains an ongoing situation.

One popular Facebook post (archived) indicated the rumor stems at least in part from people misrepresenting an Aug. 28 Washington Post report. That story, headlined “Trees are coming down by the dozen as Trump’s D.C. golf makeover nears,” tells of “newly cut stumps and bare patches of dirt [marking] the places where dozens of trees recently stood” and says an informal count found that 60 trees “appeared to have been removed in recent weeks.” The Post mentions noticing at least one removed cherry tree near the 14th green of the blue course, as well as two large sycamores removed around another area.

An Interior Department spokesperson provided the same statement the Post published, saying arborists recommended recent removals of dying, declining or hazardous trees as a part of routine maintenance:

Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention. Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it.

In response to the department’s statement, we requested numbers of removed trees from previous years for comparison.

For example, in March 2024, when former President Joe Biden was in office, the NPS reportedly announced a $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall of the Tidal Basin, an area located north of East Potomac Park. The work, scheduled at the time to last three years, featured the removal of 140 cherry trees out of 300 total trees, as well as the replanting of 277 cherry trees at the project’s conclusion. Those removals included a beloved tree named “Stumpy.”

According to an NPS article last updated in 2019, fewer than 100 of the cherry trees Japan gifted the U.S. in the early 1900s remain to this day and are planted along the Tidal Basin and around the park and the city. Those few remaining trees make up only a small portion of “the nearly 4,000 cherry trees growing in West and East Potomac Parks, on the Washington Monument grounds, and in several other park locations.”

Officials reportedly burned most of Japan’s 1910 cherry-tree shipment after arrival upon finding they were infested with insects and disease, with the 1912 shipment proving more successful. In 2009, the Post, citing century-old reporting, told of some of the 1910 trees possibly being saved and planted in an “experimental plot” — a gathering possibly remaining to this day, located at the southern tip of the park in Hains Point.

We reached out to the White House, which referred us to the Interior Department, as well as the DC Preservation League and the National Park Service for further comment, and will update this article if we receive further information. We also contacted Post writer Rick Maese, who posted on X, “It doesn’t seem like any cherry trees from the historic grove have been impacted thus far.” Another journalist responded to the post, bringing up the 2009 Post article about officials possibly planting a small number of Japan’s 1910 shipment.

An online booking search for East Potomac Golf Links tee times showed availability continuing into the first days of September, with no sign of any potential closures.

Tree care company denies axing cherry trees

During the Post’s Aug. 27 visit to the property — a site Snopes has not visited firsthand — the writer reported seeing a company named RTEC Treecare cutting trees, including a large tree that showed “clear signs of decay.” The writer also mentioned noticing white dots and yellow ribbons on some trees, marked for purposes not known to the Post.

The RTEC Treecare website displays a message addressing the cherry tree rumor, reading in part as follows (bolded emphasis theirs):

RTEC Treecare is currently performing hazard tree pruning and removal services for the National Park Service at East Potomac Park Golf Course. The trees assigned for treatment have been evaluated and selected by National Park Service arborists based on established hazard assessment criteria.

We want to be clear: RTEC Treecare has not removed any cherry trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course. Our work has been limited to trees identified by the National Park Service as hazardous, non-native, or invasive.

We contacted RTEC Treecare to ask if they were aware of who chopped down the cherry tree the Post reported about and will update this story if we receive more details.

DC eyewitness reports from East Potomac Park

On Aug. 31, Threads user @drybrarian, whose bio identifies him as “Kennedy Center Bike Guy,” posted (archived) photos purporting to show the current state of East Potomac Park, including one displaying a newspaper with the day’s date as evidence of when he captured the images. The thread of posts, featuring more than the post embedded below, reported that the user witnessed some trees being cut down, adding, “there has NOT been a wholesale Cherry Blossom Massacre,” as well as that “the VAST majority of the trees are still there.”

We messaged the user to ask for further information and will update this story accordingly.

For further reading, we previously reported in July about similar rumors of the Trump administration planning to chop down cherry trees.

Sources

In August 2026, a claim circulated online that tech giant Amazon was acquiring large quantities of books, some of them rare, and cutting off the spines to more efficiently scan the pages for artificial intelligence training data — destroying the books in the process.

The rumor emerged amid news that AI companies such as Anthropic were scanning — and destroying — millions of books to train their AI models.

Social media users across multiple platforms claimed Amazon was similarly destroying books, and dozens of Snopes readers contacted us seeking answers. 

“Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process,” one Instagram user posted (archived) on Aug. 18, gaining more than 2.2 million views, as of this writing.

(Instagram user @aaronparnas)

The rumor stemmed from an Aug. 17, 2026, story by digital investigative outlet 404 Media. Reporter Emanuel Maiberg collaborated with a bookseller who suspected a large order of books was linked to Amazon’s book scanning project, planting an Apple AirTag in the shipment that eventually appeared at an Amazon facility in Las Vegas called LAS8.

Maiberg pointed to posts from booksellers raising concerns about unusually large shipments as well as online forum posts by people claiming to be Amazon employees writing in about the work at VGT3, the name for the operation, which Snopes tracked down and verified below. 

In a follow-up story Aug. 26, Maiberg reportedly spoke with an employee who worked at Amazon’s VGT3 warehouse. The employee, who was quoted anonymously, reportedly described how machines cut the spines off books before 20 to 25 scanners flipped through the loose pages “like machines that count cash.”

Asked for a response to 404 Media’s reporting, an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an email to Snopes: “Amazon purchases books through commercial channels to help develop and improve the products and services our customers use.”

We also reached out to Maiberg regarding whether Amazon specifically sought “rare” books and whether he came across any evidence that Amazon was scanning books for e-books, but did not immediately hear back. We will update this story if we do.

Although we verified the location of the VGT3 operation and identified the online messages referred to in 404 Media’s reporting, and Amazon confirmed it purchases books for the purposes of developing its products, we left this claim unrated because it remains undetermined whether Amazon specifically seeks out “rare” books and whether it uses the books exclusively for AI training data, as well as whether the online posts truly came from Amazon employees who worked at the Las Vegas facility.

Evidence of Amazon’s book-scanning operation

In July 2026, a bookseller reportedly told Maiberg they received an order of around 1,000 books on Biblio, an online bookselling marketplace. In cooperation with 404 Media they placed an AirTag in the shipment, which eventually turned up at an Amazon warehouse at 5801 Nicco Way, Las Vegas.

(Google Maps)

The entrance to the facility, where a window bears a large illustration of a dinosaur with its jaws bared holding an open book, is currently publicly viewable on Google Maps. A reporter for a local Las Vegas news outlet also captured another angle of the facility’s entrance.

Google Street View imagery from February 2026 shows the same building entrance — though it did not have the dinosaur emblem at that time.

We asked Amazon whether there were similar operations in other cities or countries, which the spokesperson did not address in their response.

The Wall Street Journal also reportedly spoke with a bookseller in the Pacific Northwest who similarly followed a shipment using location trackers inside the book covers. Reporter Melissa Korn wrote:

The other book went first to a warehouse in Kenosha, Wis., then to a spot in northern Las Vegas at an intersection with at least two Amazon facilities. It eventually moved to a position in Mexicali, Mexico. While the seller couldn’t determine the exact address, a Google map of the location shows a sprawling recycled-paper manufacturing facility.

404 Media also pointed to messages in Amazon support channels in which booksellers raised concerns about large orders. “This is the first order I’ve seen like this in over 10 years of selling here,” one bookseller wrote in September 2024, reporting that the buyer’s address matched an “Amazon Fulfillment Center” in Las Vegas.

An Amazon support representative responded that they were investigating the concerns, before eventually confirming the orders were legitimate.

What have purported Amazon employees said?

Both The Wall Street Journal and 404 Media referenced posts on online forums by purported Amazon employees from more than a year prior to the 2026 stories in which they described work at the Las Vegas facility, reportedly involving cutting and scanning books for up to 12 hours at a time. 

“Some are assigned to cut books, and others go to receive where they get books and scan the bar codes,” one comment reportedly read.

Snopes verified that this post was real (archived), as were other posts dating back to at least July 2025 (archived, archived), although we were unable to verify they were truly made by Amazon employees.

Comment
by u/Monkeyspank111 from discussion 
in FASCAmazon

In its Aug. 26 story, 404 Media reported that when asked what it looked like when the book spines were cut off, the employee said:

It’s a machine people operate. Each of these machines is just like a little workstation, and there’ll be one person at each of these stations. It’s really safe because it has a little cover and it has a little area where you slide the book into, remove your fingers from the area, and then you press a button, and it just comes down and slices it. And then you remove the books after the blade is gone.

The employee reportedly described how after the books were cut, they were put into large containers, saying, “They’re just piled in there. It’s also right next to where they start cutting the spines, and so I think right after that, that’s where it’s going [the trash].”

Because we do not rely on anonymous sources for our fact-checking, we do not consider this account to be primary evidence.

How did 404 Media define ‘rare’ books?

According to 404 Media, the books in the shipment it tracked were rare, meaning “there are not many copies of them in circulation.” Though many people online appeared to believe Amazon and other AI companies were specifically seeking out rare books, perhaps with the intention of gatekeeping or monetizing their contents by converting them into exclusive digital copies, we did not find evidence of this, as of this writing. Maiberg wrote:

That employees are scanning the barcodes or ISBNs on books — a unique serial number given to every published book — before scanning their content gives further credence to another theory put forth by booksellers: AI companies are trying to methodically scan every printed book in the world by working through the list of ISBNs. One bookseller told me they suspected this was the case because the very large orders they were getting never included very rare books that do not have ISBNs.

In other words, Amazon may be indiscriminately acquiring printed books, which may include some that have few copies in circulation.

This would align with the internal Anthropic documents we previously reported on, which stated that the goal of its book-scanning project, “Project Panama,” was to “scan and destroy ‘all the books in the world.’” In an email to a bookseller, project director Tom Turvey said “less common books are a great place to start.” It’s unclear whether “less common” refers to a book’s actual market rarity or the number of circulating copies.

It’s unclear, as of this writing, whether Amazon was specifically seeking out rare or collectable books in any capacity. We reached out to Maiberg seeking clarification. We also asked the Amazon spokesperson about how it chooses the books the company purchases, and they did not address this question in their response.

The anonymous employee who reportedly spoke with 404 Media said the shipments contained “all kinds of books”:

When we first started a lot of them were brand new. Some of them are used as well. Like you could tell, they were liquidated from a library or something like that. We were even getting boxes of stuff from London. There were a lot of books from the University of London. There was even like, I don’t know what you would call them, but it was like kind of stapled together papers that said that they were presented to Parliament on the behalf of Her Royal Majesty the Queen. So they were like government documents. I don’t know if they’re public. Probably they’re public, but it was just interesting that we found all that in there. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, several “rare-book sellers” reported receiving these mass orders, with one seller reportedly claiming his sales more than doubled in one year. It’s unclear what percentage of the total amount of books Amazon has acquired has come from rare-book sellers as opposed to standard book marketplaces. 

Unclear whether Amazon uses books for AI training 

Amazon did not respond to our question regarding whether the book scans were used to train AI, converting the physical books into e-books or some other purpose.

“They didn’t tell us it was for AI, I personally thought we were scanning them to make them into e-books, that was depressing to realize,” a Reddit user who claimed to have once worked at VGT3 posted in August 2026.

As we previously reported, AI companies such as Anthropic have sought to train their models on books as high-quality data to prevent “model collapse,” which happens when AI trains on its own content. This feedback loop degrades the quality of AI output and results in AI slop.

After country music legend and philanthropist Dolly Parton died in August 2026, rumors spread online about supposed public spending cuts to her Imagination Library, which sends free books to children until their 5th birthdays. 

Posts online claimed that Missouri or Indiana Republicans cut funding for the child literacy program. Some claims were vaguer, merely stating that “Republicans” ended financial support for the Imagination Library. Readers asked us whether the Imagination Library was “defunded” after Parton’s death or in the past year and whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Congress, Republicans or other various entities were the culprit. 

Here’s the truth: In about two dozen states, the Imagination Library receives state government funding. In the year before Parton’s death, two states with Republican-controlled governments — Indiana and Missouri — and two with Democrat-controlled governments — Maine and Washington — ended or reduced financial support for the Imagination Library.

At least one state with a Republican governor and Democrat-controlled Legislature, Nevada, also did not renew several grants that supported local partners of the Imagination Library. 

The federal government does not directly fund the Imagination Library, which the Dollywood Foundation oversees. However, at least two of the Imagination Library’s local partners lost funding after the Trump administration rescinded education grants as part of a larger clawback of federal funds. 

Dollywood Foundation spokesperson Tracy Long declined via email to answer any questions about funding for the Imagination Library; The New York Times reported on Aug. 25 that the Imagination Library was overwhelmed following Parton’s death. 

At least one state, Oregon, passed bipartisan legislation in 2026 that codified the Imagination Library as an official state program. 

According to the Imagination Library’s website, one in six kids in the U.S. under age 5 receives books from the organization. Imagination Library’s website also has a map showing which areas of the United States have coverage.

Here’s everything we know about the Imagination Library’s funding and why some states and other organizations stopped providing support within roughly the last year of Parton’s life:

How is the Imagination Library funded?

The Imagination Library uses a mix of private and public funding at the state and local levels. The organization itself covers all of the administrative and overhead costs. Local partners who work with the Imagination Library are asked to enroll children in the coverage area and pay an average of $2.60 per child per month toward wholesale books and mailing costs, according to a 2024 infographic from the library.

(Imagination Library)

According to Courtney Vashaw, director at a New Hampshire library that partners with Parton’s foundation, in at least some cases, like hers, the Imagination Library pays for the books, too.

“Where does local funding come into it? The postage,” she said in a phone call. “There has to be some kind of partnership that allows for that money to be raised.”

As of June 2026, the Imagination Library has full coverage in 21 states, according to a fact sheet the organization released. State governments often support those statewide programs through a 50/50 funding match, where the state pays for half of the local partners’ costs.

Many of the Imagination Library’s local partners — which are all nonprofit organizations — also heavily rely on federal or state grant funding.

Did state Republicans cut funding?

Missouri and Indiana Republicans cut funding after reportedly facing budget deficits. Kentucky lawmakers also reportedly considered cutting funding but reversed the move after public backlash.

Missouri

In November 2023, under Republican Gov. Mike Parson, Missouri became the first state to cover all costs for the Imagination Library. (Tennessee, Parton’s home state — which Republicans control — was the first to introduce a statewide program involving partial public funding support.)

In lieu of local nonprofit partners, Missouri had school districts partner with the initiative, and the schools did not have to pay for the books or postage.

But in June 2026, under Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, Missouri lawmakers cut state funding for the program for the upcoming fiscal year — reportedly from $6 million to $2 million.

“The Governor is a strong supporter of children’s literacy. Given the seriousness of Missouri’s budget imbalance, tough decisions are being made to restore responsible spending across the entirety of state government,” Gabby Picard, Kehoe’s spokesperson, said in an email.

According to the Missouri Department of Education, the planned cuts mean it can’t support adding more children to the program. However, Missouri children already enrolled in the program will continue receiving books “as funding allows.”

Indiana

Indiana began supporting the Imagination Library statewide through the 50/50 funding match model in 2023 under Republican Gov. Eric J. Holcomb, who championed the program. Lawmakers allotted $6 million to the program over two years.

In 2025, under Republican Gov. Mike Braun, GOP lawmakers cut the funding from the state budget entirely. Facing public backlash, the Indiana governor tasked his wife, Maureen Braun, with fundraising for the state-level match.

“In March, Mrs. Braun announced that fundraising for the state-level match for the program through June 30, 2027 is nearly complete,” Griffin Reid, a spokesperson for Indiana’s governor, said in an email. “The program is successfully delivering books to young Hoosiers in all 92 counties in Indiana.”

According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the program was on hiatus while Maureen Braun fundraised.

News outlets have reported that the governor’s office has consistently declined to share how much the first lady has raised. Reid also did not respond to our questions asking for specific numbers. 

Did state Democrats cut funding?

Yes, in Washington, which was facing budget issues, and Maine, for unclear reasons. Nevada, which has a Republican governor but a Democratic state Legislature, also failed to renew several grants to help fund local partners of the Imagination Library.

Washington

Washington established its statewide program in 2022 through bipartisan legislation under Democratic leadership. The state also used the 50/50 match model.

In 2025, while facing a $12 billion shortfall, Washington cut all state funding to the Imagination Library under Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson and a Democrat-controlled Legislature.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, a Democrat, kept the program running through “limited discretionary funds” until June 2026. Reykdal has called on the Legislature and Ferguson to restore funding.

On July 31, 2026, the Imagination Library of Washington announced grants from two private foundations “expected to ultimately restore access for approximately 40,000 children and return the program to full statewide coverage.”

Ferguson’s office did not return an inquiry about restoring state funding.

Maine

Maine’s Imagination Library program launched in late 2023 using the 50/50 match model after the Democratic state Legislature approved a $200,000 proposal from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

During Maine’s budget process for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, both Mills and the Maine State Library requested funding to continue operating the program and to expand it into all of Maine’s counties, according to emails from Beth Crist, director of special projects at Maine State Library, and Ben Goodman, a spokesperson with Mills’ office.

The final budget the Legislature approved provided only $100,000 a year, however, which was not enough to expand the program, nor to support the existing nonprofit partners who administered it across seven counties at the time, Crist and Goodman said.

Maine’s budget chairs, both Democrats, did not return an inquiry as to why the Legislature did not fully fund the program. Crist said the Legislature did not provide an explanation to Maine State Library.

Some chapters still operate in Maine without state funding.

Nevada

Nevada does not have a statewide Imagination Library program. However, in October 2025, Storied, a local partner serving Clark County, announced that the Nevada Legislature did not renew a grant that started in 2023, as the Nevada Current reported (and Storied confirmed).

Meredith Helmick, executive director of Storied, said in an email that the organization was able to resume its program in July 2026, “but on a much smaller scale.”

“Kids will start receiving books in September,” Helmick said.

Helmick said Storied spent the 10-month hiatus applying for local and state grants and receiving donations from local private foundations and individuals. She hopes to “find a path towards statewide coverage or to at least bring the program in Clark County back to its previous levels.”

The Nevada Independent also reported that United Way Northern Nevada and the Sierra, a partner in Nevada’s Washoe County, lost state grant funding in 2025.

However, a United Way Northern Nevada and the Sierra spokesperson, Daniel Amaya, said in an email that it was “changes in federal funding and resources being allocated elsewhere” that resulted in a pause in its partnership with Imagination Library.

“The loss of federal funds to the State of Nevada directly impacts the amount of money the state can allocate,” Amaya said.

According to the Imagination Library’s website, Washoe County no longer has an operating Imagination Library presence. United Way is seeking donations to resume the program.

“Our hope and goal is to restart Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Northern Nevada as soon as we secure the funding needed,” Amaya said. “We look forward to the day we can turn the page and begin this important work again.” 

Did Trump or the federal government cut funding?

Federal funding indirectly provided support to local partners who worked with the Imagination Library, even though the federal government doesn’t directly fund the program.

Aside from Washoe County in Nevada, the Trump administration’s 2025 cuts to federal grant funds affected at least one other area: New Hampshire’s North Country, which is effectively the top half of the state.

Whitefield Public Library — the Imagination Library’s local partner in the North Country — first launched the program in 2025 after months of work, said Vashaw, the director of Whitefield Public Library.

Part of that work involved finding a financial partner who could cover the local partner costs for the program: an organization called the Education Alliance for New Hampshire.

After just a “handful of months” of that group running the program, however, the Trump administration rescinded federal grant funding that the Education Alliance relied on. The Education Alliance closed down.

“Their doors were shuttered, their programs closed with very little notice and that meant we had no funding,” Vashaw said. “We literally weren’t sure we were going to be able to pay the bills come January.”

The Department of Education declined to answer questions about these funds on the record.

After emergency fundraising, the Whitefield Public Library was able to keep the program going. As of this writing, 620 kids are enrolled, Vashaw said.

Vashaw said private fundraising isn’t on track for 2027. However, she’s hoping a bipartisan effort from New Hampshire lawmakers to make the Imagination Library available statewide will help keep the program going. 

An alleged quote by Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, the mother of U.S. President Donald Trump, expressing doubt about her son’s intelligence and ability to succeed in politics has circulated for years. 

A meme with the quote that spread on Facebook in August 2026 read:

Trump’s mom knew best!

“Yes, he’s an idiot with zero common sense, and no social skills, but he is my son. I just hope he never gets into politics. He’d be a disaster.”

Mary Anne Trump: Telling the truth before it was trending.

(Facebook user JOE BIDEN 2024)

Snopes readers wrote in to ask us whether the quote was real.

Versions of the alleged quote have circulated for years, usually with the part reading “I sincerely just hope he never gets into:” ending with the word “politics.” We’ve hunted for evidence the quote was real since 2019 and have found no proof that Trump’s mother ever said these words. Other publications, such as PolitiFact and Reuters, also fact-checked the quote and found no indication it was real.

Because digital archives of newspapers, books and magazines grow and change over time — meaning it is always possible for new evidence for historical claims to become available — we took another look at the quote after it began circulating again in 2026, during Trump’s second term as president.

In short, just as in 2019, there was no compelling evidence supporting the claim that the quote is authentic, as of this writing.

Searches for the full alleged comments — as well as the distinctive clauses “he’s an idiot with no common sense” and “I just hope he never goes into politics” — on Newspapers.com and Gale OneFile, both of which are large databases of periodicals, uncovered no evidence supporting the quote’s authenticity. Searches on Google Books and the Internet Archive likewise returned no evidence that the quote ever appeared with secure attribution in any legitimate publication.

A Google search found no instances of the alleged remark at all before 2019, nearly two decades after Mary MacLeod Trump’s August 2000 death. The absence of any evidence of a quote dating within the alleged originator’s lifetime is a common red flag for fake or misattributed quotes.

One development since 2019 was the emergence of the supposed newspaper clipping featuring the in-question comment underneath a photo of Trump and his mother, which appeared (archived) to have first circulated (archived) online in June 2020. Examples of the clipping, which did not include the name of the paper in which it was allegedly published or a date, appeared (archived) in numerous (archived) posts on X (archived).

(X user @RobertCStern)

It has not been possible to find proof that the clipping is genuine. Although it included a genuine photo of Trump and his mother that was prominently featured in a 2016 New Yorker article titled “Donald Trump’s Immigrant Mother,” searches uncovered no instances of the picture paired with the quote in any real newspaper or magazine.

It remains possible that a primary source proving the quote’s authenticity exists somewhere — for example, in a newspaper archive that has not been digitized as of this writing — and for that reason we’ve refrained from issuing a definitive rating.

Previously, we looked into the claim that Trump’s mother was an immigrant in the country illegally.

Sources

Claim:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wore a hijab at a New York City mosque in August 2026.

Rating:

What’s True

Video of Hochul in the mosque authentically shows her wearing a headscarf, with some of her hair visible.

What’s False

Hochul was not wearing a traditional hijab, which is a way of life that involves practicing modesty, covering the head and all the hair.

In late August 2026, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was criticized after she purportedly wore a head covering to a mosque.

Videos (archived) on Instagram, Facebook, and X (archived) claimed to show Hochul wearing a black head scarf or hijab while speaking at a mosque, which conservative critics claimed was disrespectful so close to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Snopes readers asked us to confirm whether Hochul was wearing a hijab — a covering for the head, hair and neck that is typically worn by some Muslim women.

The above video is authentic. On Aug. 28, 2026, Hochul visited the Islamic Cultural Center of New York and covered her head as a gesture of respect as she was speaking in the prayer hall. Hochul has worn a head covering at events with Muslims before and has even spoken out in favor of Muslim women choosing to wear the hijab. She was not, however, wearing a traditional hijab. As such, we rate this claim as a mixture of true and false information.

Social media posts and media coverage often erroneously simplify the meaning of “hijab” and claim it is just a headscarf. The term “hijab” has many interpretations but broadly refers to a veil or barrier and is a practice involving modesty for both men and women. Wearing hijab involves modest clothing in an Islamic context, including a head covering. It is worn in many styles but for Muslim women today, the hijab colloquially refers to the covering that typically conceals the head, all the hair and neck while leaving the face uncovered. 

In available photographs of Hochul covering her head, her hair is visible. She is wearing a headscarf, and not participating in the practice of wearing hijab, as is typically done by Muslim women. 

Hochul was visiting the Islamic Cultural Center in New York City during Friday prayers. The above video shows her standing before the front wall of the mosque with the decorative glass niche behind her (visible in these videos of the Islamic Cultural Center at 0:23 and 3:29).

The official Instagram account for the Islamic Cultural Center School — which is affiliated with the Islamic Cultural Center— posted about Hochul’s visit and noted that the governor joined for Friday prayers:

 

Governor Hochul joined our community at ICCNY for Friday Jumaa, where she addressed the congregation, before visiting the Islamic Cultural Center School of New York. She toured the school, stepped into our classrooms and learned more about the community we are so proud to serve.

Hochul is wearing the same outfit in the above Instagram post and in the videos being shared on social media. However, during her visit to the Islamic Cultural Center School, Hochul’s head was uncovered. She covered only it when speaking at the gathering at the prayer hall.

All Muslim women cover their heads when praying or when inside the prayer hall of a mosque, with some — but not all — in hijab. Given that Hochul was in attendance for Friday prayers at the mosque, covering her head can be seen as a sign of respect.

This was not the first time Hochul covered her head at a religious gathering for Muslims. In July 2025, she covered her head when speaking at the funeral of a slain Muslim police officer. In 2020, she covered her head when speaking at the Jamaica Muslim Center.

In February 2024, Hochul posted (archived) on X in support of World Hijab Day, writing: “we stand in solidarity with our Muslim sisters who choose to wear the hijab. New York’s diversity has always been its strength, and together, we will always promote respect, inclusion, and religious freedom in the face of hate.”

The post also showed Hochul shaking hands with a Muslim hijabi woman while wearing a head covering. Another Muslim woman in the photograph is wearing a head covering similar to Hochul’s:

Hochul has not publicly addressed the criticism as of this writing.

Snopes has previously covered examples of other leaders wearing head coverings as a sign of respect among Muslim communities, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 

Sources

In August 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency cut funding in early 2025 for a U.S. Agency for International Development and NASA program that provided early warning for floods in Nepal.

Claims about DOGE’s alleged cuts circulated as Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Authority said on Aug. 31 that at least 939 people had died and 3,925 were missing after flash floods hit the Nepal-China border five days earlier.

One Facebook user who posted about the alleged DOGE program cuts after the deadly floods in Nepal wrote:

DOGE hunted federal grants for the word “climate” and defunded whatever came up. One of the things that came up was a USAID and NASA satellite program that mapped dangerous glacial lakes, predicted floods, and ran early warning systems across the globe. Including Nepal. Last week, a glacier collapsed above the Nepal-China border, and the flood killed over 270 people. More than 2000 are still missing. Elon Musk said he spent that weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.

Similar claims also circulated on Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers contacted us about the claim.

The claim circulated after Jeremy Konyndyk, a USAID official under former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, posted (archived) on X about the SERVIR program, a joint USAID/NASA initiative that formerly operated in Nepal. The program’s work, Konyndyk wrote, included “flood prediction, early warning, disaster readiness, glacier inventories, and mapping dangerous glacial lakes.”

Konyndyk claimed DOGE cut the SERVIR program in Nepal amid its dismantling of USAID. The program itself said on its website that the initiative “concluded in January 2025” but did not say why. This was around the time President Donald Trump and his then-adviser Elon Musk said they would shut down USAID.

According to a list of USAID funding cuts reported by Politico that DOGE allegedly sent to Congress in March 2025, the cost-cutting department removed funding from several different SERVIR programs, including the program in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region (Page 135), which includes Nepal.

We contacted the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, which delivered the SERVIR program in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, to confirm whether DOGE cuts ended the program there. We also contacted the U.S. State Department, which took over the remaining USAID programs after DOGE’s cuts, to confirm whether it still funded the program. We await replies to our queries.

Contracts or grants related to the SERVIR program in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region did not appear on DOGE’s website listing estimated savings, though the department said it had not uploaded documentation for all the government contracts, awards or leases it cut.

While awaiting replies and because Snopes could not independently verify the authenticity of Politico’s document that appeared to show DOGE cut the SERVIR program in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, we leave this claim unrated.

Effects of defunding programs like SERVIR can’t be known 

According to the SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya website, the program was developing a flood early-warning system that used data from the Copernicus satellite system to provide 10-15 day flood forecasts for vulnerable areas. It also produced maps of “potentially dangerous” glacier lakes in Nepal at risk of collapse. 

Because it was not funded at the time of the deadly August 2026 floods, it was impossible to know whether any of the program’s monitoring or warning systems would have made a difference to flood casualty numbers.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the floods in Nepal were likely caused by a magnitude 5.2 “slope failure involving a glacier” that sent debris flow and floodwaters rushing approximately 60 miles away. 

It was unclear whether SERVIR’s or any other early warning system could have alerted authorities to a possible landslide or glacier collapse and whether that would have allowed time for evacuations.

NPR reported on Aug. 30 that Chinese scientists found that the flooding happened after a large chunk of ice broke off a glacier and sent water, ice and mud rushing downhill. According to NPR’s report, it took seven minutes from when the glacier broke off until it hit Gyirong Port on the border between Tibet and Nepal, pulverizing the structure. 

Su Pengcheng, a researcher at the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, reportedly told NPR there was “no time for warning or to flee.”

The U.S. State Department said on Aug. 26 it would deploy a disaster response adviser to Nepal and provide $500,000 in assistance through its “global award with Catholic Relief Services.”

State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot told ABC’s “This Week” on Aug. 30 that at least 85 Americans remained unaccounted for after the flooding.

For further reading, Snopes previously verified footage of the deadly floods hitting Gyirong Port.

Sources

Claim:

As of August 2026, Canadian officials were refusing passage through the Welland Canal to ships that used the name “Lake America” to refer to Lake Ontario in their documentation.

Rating:

In late August 2026, a rumor spread online that claimed Canadian officials were refusing to grant passage through the Welland Canal — which connects lakes Erie and Ontario — to ships that had “Lake America” listed in their documentation, as opposed to “Lake Ontario.” 

The rumor circulated after U.S. President Donald Trump renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” in the United States. 

Posts on X, Threads, Facebook (screenshott) and Reddit claimed Fox News had reported on the alleged Canadian blockade. Snopes readers contacted us to investigate the claim’s legitimacy.

(X user @MykhailoRohoza)

This claim originated as satire. A search of Fox News’ archives via its website found no evidence the news outlet had reported on such a claim. 

Searches on DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo also found no relevant and credible news articles reporting on this claim as fact. If Canadian officials really were preventing ships using the term “Lake America” in their documentation from crossing the Welland Canal, it would certainly have made news, and search inquiries would have uncovered evidence of it. 

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. oversees ship traffic on the Canadian side of the Welland Canal, which is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Canadian Press reported that Serge Auclair, vice-president of commercial and external relations at the corporation, said vessels are traveling the canal as usual.

“Seaway operations are continuing normally and have done so throughout the weekend. Vessels are transiting the Welland Canal as usual,” Nicole Giroux, a spokesperson for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., told Snopes.

The earliest version of the claim we found came from an Aug. 28 X post (archived) from a Russian X user listed as “Comedian” on the account’s profile (archived). We reached out to the X user to confirm the account originated the claim and will update this story if we hear back. 

Many of the earlier versions of the claim shared in English also labeled it as satire, or at least acknowledged its satirical origins. 

Snopes has debunked similar pieces of media before. For example, in May, we alerted readers to a fake story about Canadian officials denying Trump a $573 billion railway bailout. 

For more on Lake Ontario, we previously confirmed it was named by Indigenous people, not after the Canadian province of Ontario. 

Since the effectiveness of satire is subjective, we use “originated as satire” or “labeled satire” ratings based on creators’ description of their work. It’s your call on whether you agree.