Tag: Snopes News

Claim:

In 2016, a woman used sheep to map the Faroe Islands after Google left the islands off of Google Street View.

Rating:

In mid-2026, some people on social media celebrated a story from the Faroe Islands, a self-governing archipelago north of Scotland. 

Apparently, 2026 marked the 10-year anniversary of the time a Faroese woman allegedly strapped cameras on sheep to map the country when Google wouldn’t, according to a post on X (archived). The opening of the post read:

Google would not send a Street View car to the Faroe Islands, so in 2016 a Faroese woman strapped a camera to a sheep and mapped the country herself.

The grievance was legitimate. Eighteen islands in the North Atlantic, some of the most spectacular road in Europe, causeways and tunnels and single track cut along the edge of a cliff face, and none of it on Street View. Google had been up Mont Blanc. Google had been to Greenland. Google had been above the Arctic Circle in half a dozen countries. The Faroes had about fifty thousand people and a coastline, and they were simply not on the list.

Durita Dahl Andreassen worked for the tourist board in Tórshavn. Her reasoning was straightforward and, in its way, unanswerable. There are more sheep on the islands than people. They walk freely. They go everywhere. They have no schedule and no other commitments.

So a fellow islander built a harness. Onto it went a 360 degree camera, a mobile phone and a lightweight solar panel to keep the batteries up, the whole rig weighing under a kilo. The camera was set to fire every minute. Five sheep in five locations were fitted out and released to do what they were going to do anyway, which was walk about eating grass on the edge of some of the most photogenic drops in the North Atlantic.

The images came back tagged with GPS coordinates, over a mobile signal, from a sheep. Andreassen uploaded them to Google Maps.

They called it Sheep View 360. Her job title, for a period, was Sheep View 360 Project Manager, which remains one of the finest lines ever printed on a business card.

The one technical hitch, reported by the tourist board with total sincerity, was motivation. The sheep had to be encouraged to go to the interesting bits, which meant somebody standing behind them doing the thing you do to move sheep. The technology worked perfectly. The talent needed direction.

The claim also spread on social media websites such as Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived).

The claim is true. Visit Faroe Islands (archived), the island territory’s official tourism board, celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its “Sheep View 360” campaign on July 12, 2016. 

Leading the campaign for Visit Faroe Islands was Durita Andreassen, who explained the project in a video on the Visit Faroe Islands Sheep View 360 webpage. The day Visit Faroe Islands launched the campaign, it released a video showing the sheep walking around with the cameras on their backs.

A map from the campaign shows Andreassen’s sheep captured images of the Hosvik area. There are three spots near Hosvik on Google Street View in which the Sheep View 360 can still be seen today.

The campaign worked. On Aug. 11, 2016, Google announced it had started working with the Faroe Islands to bring Google Street View coverage to the area.

Just over a year later, Visit Faroe Islands proudly announced that the territory now had Google Street View coverage.

For further reading, Snopes has previously fact-checked claims about sheep, including a miscaptioned photo that incorrectly asserted sheep went through a fence gate that wasn’t there.

Claim:

A federal judge rule certain AI-generated child sex abuse material is protected by First Amendment.

Rating:

Context

In his decision, Judge John Z. Lee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, referred to two U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1969 and 2002. The first says people have the right to keep obscenity in the privacy of their homes and the second says child sex abuse material that does not depict real children is not child pornography and is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The judge also said that while he is bound by precedent, he is concerned by “the lines these cases draw.”

In August 2026, a rumor spread that a federal judge ruled certain child sex abuse material generated by artificial intelligence was protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes the right to free speech. 

Several Snopes readers emailed to share an Instagram post relaying the story. “A federal judge has ruled that the First Amendment protects an individual’s right to privately possess child sexual abuse content created using Al if it does not depict a real person and remains in the home,” the image in the post read. On X, several people amplified the claim, with one calling it “disgusting” (archived):

In sum, the claim was true, but it lacked crucial context. In his Aug. 25, 2026, decision, Judge John Z. Lee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, said precedent forced him to make this ruling, pointing to two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. He added that the current state of technological advance meant the court had “concerns” about the “lines” set by these two Supreme Court decisions.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on whether the agency intends to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Law hasn’t caught up with AI, judge suggested

In 2024, a man named Steven Anderegg was arrested on charges of fabricating, possessing and distributing AI-generated child sex abuse material, as well as sending some of this material to a minor. Anderegg asked for the charges of production and possession to be dismissed, which a federal district court in Wisconsin granted on grounds that these counts ran against decided caselaw.

The prosecutors then appealed this decision, but Lee agreed with the lower court, citing two decisions the Supreme Court rendered in 1969 and 2002. 

The first decision, Stanley v. Georgia, said the First Amendment protects people who privately keep obscenity. “The First Amendment does not allow a state to criminalize the private possession of obscene matter,” read the summary of the case on the Justia website, a free online collection of all U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The second decision — Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition — came six years after the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. It ruled that child sex abuse material that does not depict real children is not child pornography, and that it is protected by the First Amendment. This decision explicitly covered digital images.

“The statute sought to outlaw all speech that was related to the possibility of child pornography, including images of adults who look like children and computer-generated images,” the case’s Justia page reads.

While Lee said he was compelled by judicial precedent to make this ruling, he also expressed “concerns about the lines these cases draw,” given how quickly AI technology is evolving. The judge also said that fabricated child sex abuse material that does not depict real persons was becoming more and more difficult to distinguish from such material that showed real children, making law enforcement more difficult.

“Recent data suggests that the influx of AI-generated images reported to the NCMEC [National Center for Missing and Exploited Children] CyberTipline imposes increasing burdens on law enforcement,” the judge wrote in his decision.

A paragraph in Lee’s decision summarized his rationale (Page 3 of this document):

We now live in an age where GenAI [generative AI] models can render images depicting the abuse of virtual children that are virtually indistinguishable from those depicting the abuse of actual children. This case illuminates how this evolving technology complicates the lines drawn by the Supreme Court in Stanley, Osborne, and Free Speech Coalition. Indeed, in Free Speech Coalition, the Supreme Court addressed the scope of First Amendment protections for virtual CSAM, but that was nearly twenty-five years ago, and the image-generation technology available today was likely unimaginable back then. Given the relentless advancement in artificial intelligence models, we have some concerns about the lines these cases draw, but we are not free to redraw them ourselves.

In other words, Lee said he could not on his own change a precedent set by the Supreme Court. It would therefore fall upon the Supreme Court to change the interpretation of the law to account for current technology and its consequences. 

For further reading, Snopes examined the claim that 17 Republican Colorado lawmakers voted against banning AI-generated child sex abuse material.

Did Target Partner with Designer Whose Work Includes Satanic Imagery?

May 24, 2023

“For me,” the designer wrote on Instagram, “Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love.”

Read More

Claim:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef that the administration of President Donald Trump had imported to bring down domestic beef prices.

Rating:

What’s True

The USDA recalled 29,628 pounds of raw beef products imported from Argentina on Aug. 7, 2026, because the Food Safety and Inspection Service had not reinspected it upon entry to the U.S.

What’s False

The recalled beef was not part of the Trump administration’s announced plan to import 300,000 metric tons of “product for ground beef.” An Aug. 26 presidential proclamation said imports under that plan would start on Sept. 1, 2026.

In August 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef that the Trump administration had imported to bring down domestic beef prices.

Around a week before claims circulated, on Aug. 21, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump announced (archived) on Truth Social that his administration would allow the import of 300,000 metric tons of “product for ground beef” to lower domestic beef prices.

One Threads user who appeared to connect the recalled beef with the Trump administration’s import plan wrote:

This was predictable, but the Trump administration is now frantically recalling 30,000 lbs. of foreign beef they brought into the country. Here’s an idea — maybe we just buy from American ranchers for a while.

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

The claim was a mixture of true and false elements. 

It was true that the USDA recalled approximately 29,628 pounds of raw beef products imported from Argentina on Aug. 7, 2026. The department said the imported product had not been reinspected when it entered the U.S., meaning the Food Safety and Inspection Service could not ensure it met U.S. safety standards.

However, the beef the USDA recalled was not part of the Trump administration’s plan to import 300,000 metric tons of “product for ground beef.” According to an Aug. 26 presidential proclamation, the Trump administration would start those planned beef imports on Sept. 1, 2026.

The recall

According to the USDA’s recall, a Florida-based company called Corte Argentino USA LLC had imported the Argentine beef products, which were produced between May 15, 2026, and May 20, 2026, and carried use-by or freeze-by dates between Sept. 15, 2026, and Sept. 20, 2026.

The USDA listed the following products for recall: 

• Various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Top Sirloin Butt” (“Cuadril Sin Tapa”)
• Various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Eye Round” (“Peceto”)
• Various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Topside Cap Off” (“Nalga AD S/Tapa”)
• Various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Flat” (“Carnaza Cuadrada”)
• Various weight cardboard boxes containing “FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC” boneless beef “Knuckle” (“Bola de Lomo”)

The FSIS recalled the beef because it had not been “reinspected” upon entry to the United States. Imported meat must pass this inspection before it can be sold in the U.S. 

The reinspection process allows the FSIS to check that products are “safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled” according to domestic standards.

Speculation swirls about Trump beef import plan

Trump signed a proclamation about the import plan on Aug. 26 that said the additional imports would take place in three 30-day windows, starting on Sept. 1. Neither the proclamation nor members of the Trump administration had confirmed where the imported beef would come from at the time of this writing.

On Aug. 25, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, whose department would inspect the incoming beef under the new plan, told (video time code 07:19) reporters at the White House she was “not privy” to discuss where the imported beef came from.

Despite, or perhaps because of the lack of information about the plan, online speculation swirled that Trump would import Argentine beef that China had rejected because it found an antibiotic in a shipment of meat that was banned in both countries.

Snopes’ reporting found that China did suspend imports of beef from a single facility owned by the Argentine meatpacker ArreBeef after inspection found one shipment from the facility contained the antibiotic chloramphenicol. 

The beef that the USDA recalled on Aug. 7, 2026, did not come from this supplier. 

For further reading, Snopes previously investigated a rumor that the Trump administration’s imported beef would come from slaughtered wild horses.

Annapurna Post. Annapurna Post Facebook Page. 26 Aug. 2026, https://www.facebook.com/reel/1552643429217959.

‘Google Maps’. Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/place//@28.2802568,85.37749,282m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!1m5!3m4!2zMjjCsDE2JzUxLjIiTiA4NcKwMjInNDAuNiJF!8m2!3d28.2808889!4d85.3779444?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgyNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

Gyirong Port Introduction| Location, Transportation, Accommodation, Attractions. https://www.tibetdiscovery.com/tibet-ports/gyirong-port/. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

Important Notice: Intermittent Control of Roads in the Gyirong Port Area! https://www.tibettourism.com/gyirong-port-intermittent-control.html. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

Lee, Liz, et al. ‘Hundreds Missing after Flood Hits Nepal-Tibet Border, 157 Bodies Recovered’. Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/nepal-flash-flood-washes-away-villages-project-sites-near-tibet-border-2026-08-26/.

Shrestha, Niranjan, and SHRISTI KAFLE Leer en español. ‘Catastrophic Floods Kill over 390 in Nepal and Tibet, with More than 1,400 Missing’. AP News, 27 Aug. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-nepal-tibet-glacier-collapse-floods-61b592d428e4631add31ce052d0daf1f.

‘Think It’s Hot Now? The next Five Years Will Smash Records, UN Says’. AP News, 28 May 2026, https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-warming-heat-wave-record-future-53d79525a06f09d9ace45a141dbebb01.

– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCanRmchkL0. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

中国新闻网. English:  China Gyirong Port of Entry Building. 5 Aug. 2019, Video screenshot at timestamp 1:03 of YouTube: 西藏吉隆口岸 记录时代的变迁 – View/save archived versions on archive.org. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_Gyirong_Port_of_Entry_building.png.

Claim:

Country singer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library donated books to children in Israel.

Rating:

Context

The organization PJ Library, which provides free books for Jewish children — including children in Israel – was inspired by Parton’s Imagination Library but did not have a formal relationship with it. The Imagination Library operated in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia. Parton expressed support for PJ Library’s efforts in an 2023 interview.

Amid news of singer Dolly Parton’s death at age 80 in August 2026, many people looked back at her charitable work through the Imagination Library, an organization she founded that has provided millions of free books to children in the U.S. and other countries. 

An online debate ensued on X about whether Parton had donated books to Israeli children, part of a broader discourse about her alleged views on the state of Israel. Some posts claimed Parton worked with PJ Library (archived), an organization that sends free books to Jewish children worldwide, including children in Israel. 

One X user wrote: “People accusing Dolly of being evil because she MAYBE donated books to some Israeli children?”

(X user @K1TKATCLUBS)

There is no evidence the Imagination Library has ever operated in Israel. According to its website, the organization operates only in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia. In 2022, the Library announced it would provide free books each month to 200 refugee children in London until they turn 5. 

We reached out to the Library for a response to claims about its ties to Israel. Tracy Long, a director with the Dollywood Foundation, which funds Imagination Library, directed us to its website where it states its operations are limited to the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia. 

PJ Library is a program run by The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, a Jewish philanthropic organization. It operates in Israel through a Hebrew-language counterpart, Sifriyat Pijama, and Arabic-language companion program, Maktabat al-Fanoos. While PJ Library was inspired by Imagination Library, the two organizations were not formal partners. Parton expressed support for PJ Library’s work in an interview, but according to a PJ Library spokesperson she did not support it financially. 

As such, we rate this claim as false.

Snopes reached out to PJ Library and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to ask about the rumor. Spokesperson Mark Gold told Snopes over email that Parton was never formally involved in the group’s work (emphasis ours):

No, there was never a formal partnership between PJ Library and the Imagination Library, nor did Ms. Parton donate books or funds to PJ Library or PJ Library initiatives in Israel. Mr. Grinspoon was inspired by the Imagination Library, but the PJ Library program was developed independently of the Imagination Library.  PJ Library is funded by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and other partners who contribute directly to the PJ Library program.  Sifriyat Pijama in Israel is a program of Keren Grinspoon (the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in Israel) and is funded by that foundation. The ministry of education for the State of Israel is also a partner in Sifriyat Pijama as well as in the related program “Maktabot al Fanoos” that provides free books to Arabic speaking children in Israel. 

PJ Library also acknowledged that it was inspired by the Imagination Library shortly after Parton died, when the library posted a picture of Parton with Grinspoon on Instagram:

PJ Library and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation team are sad to learn of the passing of musician, philanthropist, and American legend Dolly Parton. Dolly’s Imagination Library helped inspire Harold Grinspoon to found PJ Library in 2005.⁠

⁠When Harold had the privilege of chatting with Dolly in 2023, she shared the following with him: “I am honored to get to help inspire a love of reading in children. They truly are our future.”⁠

⁠Parton’s 2023 interview with PJ Library is archived here. She expressed support for the library’s work, saying:

PARTON: Well, I’m always honored when my Imagination Library inspires others, like Harold Grinspoon and PJ Library. That is so very special to me — especially because the Imagination Library comes from a very personal place for me …

PJ LIBRARY: We love keeping up with the Imagination Library and its many accomplishments! In 2023, you celebrated the incredible milestone of gifting 200 million books to children. PJ Library is also celebrating: Last year we sent our 50 millionth book, and this year is our 18th birthday. What is most important to you about continuing to do this work?

PARTON: First of all, congratulations, PJ Library! I’m thrilled to celebrate milestones with you! Of course, I am very, very proud of how far we’ve come with the Imagination Library. We were thrilled to celebrate our 100 millionth book in 2018, and here we are just five years later celebrating 200 million books worldwide. Isn’t that amazing?

Separately, the Grinspoon Foundation sponsors some of the Imagination Library’s activities in Massachusetts. Gold told Snopes over email:

The Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation is still the sponsoring organization for Imagination Library in Springfield and West Springfield Massachusetts. Approximately 675 children in this region receive a monthly mailing to their home of a book at no charge as a gift from the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation as part of the Imagination Library program.

In sum, Parton expressed broad support for PJ Library’s work, but she did not specifically send books or funds to Israel through her Imagination Library. The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, which runs PJ Library, has separately sponsored branches of The Imagination Library in Massachusetts. 

Parton often shied away from discussing her political views in public. Snopes has covered numerous rumors and false claims about Parton. 

Sources

Claim:

A time-lapse video authentically shows Sen. Mitch McConnell sitting in the U.S. Senate chamber, barely moving, for 20 hours straight.

Rating:

What’s True

Video provided by C-SPAN shows McConnell attended the 19-hour, 45-minute session and remained seated continuously for stretches as long as six hours. Periodically over the first few hours of the session, he can be seen standing up, moving around and walking in and out of the chamber, albeit leaning on desks for support. During the session, he was visibly slow and weak. At the end, an aide helped him out of the chamber.

What’s False

It’s false that time-lapse video authentically shows McConnell sat on the floor of the Senate, barely moving, for 20 hours straight.

As U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., remained absent from the Senate floor due to his health issues in August 2026, a video taken June 4, when he was still able to attend, purportedly showed him remaining seated, nearly motionless, throughout a 20-hour Senate voting session.

According to several posts on X and Reddit, the footage was condensed into a time-lapse video of the entire 20-hour session. A post on Instagram claimed McConnell was in a wheelchair.  A post on X claimed he was “in the Senate for nearly 20 hours and barely moved.”

The full 19 hours and 45 minutes of C-SPAN footage recorded that day proves otherwise. It also proves that the time-lapse video was heavily edited and only covered select parts of the session. 

McConnell didn’t sit near-motionless on the Senate floor for 20 hours. The C-SPAN video shows he walked in and out of the chamber several times on his own, though he was visibly weak and leaning on desks. He also sat for brief periods during the early part of the session. McConnell only remained continuously seated for around six hours toward the end of the session, after which he was escorted out by an aide. 

As such, we rate this claim as mostly false.

Photographs on image repository site Getty Images show McConnell standing but being physically supported by aides on the day of the session. Contrary to some social media posts, he wasn’t in a wheelchair that day but was often photographed in a wheelchair in prior months.

Ten days after this session, McConnell was hospitalized after he reportedly fell in his home. Snopes received several health updates from the senator’s office in the subsequent weeks. As of this writing, McConnell has still not returned to the Senate and is recovering at home.

For further reading, Snopes has kept track of McConnell’s health based on public information and debunked numerous false claims of his death.

Sources

Akin, David. “Mark Carney Tapped by Liberals to Lead New Task Force Advising Trudeau.” Global News, Global News, 9 Sept. 2024, globalnews.ca/news/10740296/mark-carney-advisor-justin-trudeau/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

Grenier, Éric. “CBC News Canada Poll Tracker.” CBC News, www.cbc.ca, 10 Apr. 2025, newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

Kemp, Olivia, and Max Saltman. “Mark Carney Sworn in as Canada’s PM after Trudeau Steps Down.” CNN, 14 Mar. 2025, edition.cnn.com/2025/03/14/americas/canada-carney-prime-minister-trudeau-resigns-intl-latam. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

“Mark Carney.” Bankofengland.co.uk, 15 Mar. 2020, www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/past/mark-carney/biography. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

“Mark Carney.” Www.bankofcanada.ca, www.bankofcanada.ca/profile/mark-carney/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

Yousif, Nadine. “Pierre Poilievre: The Man Who Could Become Canada’s Future PM.” BBC, 27 Apr. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dpde9dxp0o. Accessed 26 Aug. 2025.

In August 2026, social media users recirculated allegations that U.S. President Donald Trump sexually assaulted six children and paid tens of millions of dollars in settlements connected to the alleged incidents.

One Instagram video stated:

Breaking news. An Australian man found a live frog inside of his salad bag. And here are six kids Donald Trump has formally graped in the span of six years. Michael Parker, just 10 years old, was orally graped by Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump paid his parents $3 million in settlements. Kelly Foyer, just 12 years old, was forced into intercourse by Donald Trump at the Trump Tower and was given a $1 million settlement. Charles Bacon, 11 years old, was forced into oral and anal sex by Donald Trump in the Trump Tower in 1994. He was given a $3 million settlement. Rebecca Conway, just 13 years old, was forced into oral and intercourse by Trump at the Trump Vineyard Estates. She was given a $5 million settlement. Maria Oliveira, 12 years old, was forced into intercourse by Trump at Mar-a-Lago and was given $16 million and settlements. Kevin Noll, forced into anal rape in the Trump Tower in 1998 and the settlement details are unknown. We are not mad enough.

The claim has frequently appeared as a meme (archived) titled “TRUMP RESUME FOR THE PRESIDENCY.” Under that heading is list of six children, each paired with an age, location, year, description of alleged abuse and alleged settlement amount.

Versions of the rumor have circulated on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and X, often shared as evidence that Trump is a “child rapist” whose wealth and political power have allegedly kept him out of prison. Numerous Snopes readers have emailed us seeking the truth about the claim.

In short, there was no credible evidence that any of the six named children exist as accusers, that any such lawsuits were ever filed or that Trump paid the alleged settlements . The origin of the rumor is an uncorroborated list published on a blog, not a court document or credible news investigation.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said the claims were “obviously false.”

We investigated a similar rumor in 2020 that claimed Trump had paid at least $35 million to settle child-rape allegations and likewise found no evidence that such settlements existed.

Where the rumor came from

The rumor traces back to a Jan. 16, 2019, blog post (archived) on Legal Schnauzer titled “Donald Trump has paid about $30 million to settle child-sex complaints, including a 2012 incident at Albemarle Estate in Charlottesville, Virginia.” 

That post in turn cites an article at Wayne Madsen Report, a blog run by American writer Wayne Madsen, titled “Why is Trump so afraid of [ex-Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen’s testimony?” (In 2020, the article was available only to members.)

The Legal Schnauzer piece quotes Wayne Madsen Report as saying that Trump had paid roughly $30 million to settle “child-sex complaints” since 1989, and that the alleged settlements extended “beyond those widely reported in the mainstream press.” 

Wayne Madsen Report claimed it had received a list of child-sex settlement claims “from a reputable Republican source,” but it presented no documents, court filings, or corroborating evidence for these purported cases. The only stated basis was an unnamed Republican source. As such, we were unable to independently verify it.

Wayne Madsen Report is not a reputable, mainstream investigative outlet and has been frequently described as being run by a conspiracy theorist or spreading conspiratorial views. Fact-checking organization Lead Stories, which investigated a similar meme in 2021, likewise described it as “a blog which was described by the Encyclopedia of American Loons as an ‘utterly deranged nutter with a mind unclouded by facts, evidence, or reason.’”

We contacted Legal Schnauzer and Wayne Madsen Report seeking supporting evidence, and we will update this story if we receive a response.

Six cases, zero evidence

The six names most often cited online are Michael Parker, Kelly Feuer, Charles Bacon, Rebecca Conway, Maria Olivera and Kevin Noll. For each name, the meme specifies the child’s age (10-13), a Trump-owned property and year, a description of alleged sexual assault and a specific settlement amount (or “unknown” for one case).

If any of these were real lawsuits in U.S. courts, there would be some record of them, such as a case docket, court filings, media reports, or later mentions in books or legal databases — even if the specific terms of any settlement were kept confidential. However, no public records, credible news reports or court documents corroborate the existence of any of the six alleged victims or the multimillion-dollar settlements listed.

The Katie Johnson lawsuit

Wayne Madsen Report also pointed to two pseudonymous accusers, “Katie Johnson” and “Maria P.,” who allegedly were raped as minors at the Manhattan townhouse of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a one-time friend of Trump, in 1994. 

In fact, there were two related lawsuits filed in 2016 by the same anonymous woman, first as “Katie Johnson” in California and then as “Jane Doe” in New York, accusing Trump and Epstein of raping her when she was 13. Both cases were ultimately dismissed or withdrawn, with no trial, no public finding of guilt and no announced settlement.

In 2020, we reported the lawsuit was promoted by figures such as former TV producer Norm Lubow, who told us he helped file it under a false name, Al Taylor. As we’ve reported, it “does not disprove that Johnson is a real person, but it does show that those claims were aggressively promoted and aided by someone who has a professional history of using individuals to create fictional salacious drama, and that is a fact both he, and lawyers working for the plaintiff, attempted to downplay or hide.”

Bottom line

All in all, claims that Trump paid about $30 million to settle child-sex complaints brought by six minors is unsupported by any credible evidence and rests entirely on an unverified list from a blog.

In July 2024, PolitiFact, a fact-checking organization, published a fact check of a Threads post sharing the same list, concluding, “We found no evidence of these cases or settlements.” Lead Stories similarly stated in a 2021 article that “there is no evidence of the cases ever having been filed against Trump and no proof the listed legal actions exist.”

The in-question list was not the only social media claim asserting that Trump has been charged with, or paid to cover up, child rape. In 2024, Reuters debunked a rumor that The Associated Press had reported prosecutors were “reconsidering” bringing child rape and molestation charges against Trump. Reuters confirmed with the AP that no such story had ever been published and noted that “there are no credible news reports about any child molestation charges against Trump.”