Posts claim photo shows Melania Trump, Ghislaine Maxwell and unknown girls. Here’s what we know
In April 2026, US First Lady Melania Trump made a surprise statement to the media. rejected He has ties to disgraced businessman and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Describing her correspondence with her partner Ghislaine Maxwell as “ordinary”, Melania Trump said, “I am not a victim of Epstein. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.”
Shortly after his announcement, an old imageOne of the files allegedly published by the US Department of Justice in January 2026 and spread on the internet. It turned out that the alleged photo showed Melania Trump with Maxwell and unidentified girls.
A Spanish language to post In a photo dated April 2026, although Melania Trump said her relationship with Maxwell was casual, the photo allegedly showed her posing with Maxwell and that the two women knew each other through the modeling agency where Melania Trump worked.
Snopes found no evidence of such a photo in documents released by the Department of Justice as of April 2026. Mainstream media outlets also did not publish or verify such an image.
We refrained from rating the claim because we could not find conclusive evidence that the image was created using AI or otherwise produced.
We started searching by scanning the image in question. Epstein files DOJ is available. We could not find such an image in the files.
We also analyzed the image using artificial intelligence detection tools. Hive Inspection And Vision Engine determined that it was unlikely to have been produced by artificial intelligence. Zero GPT He found a small possibility that the image had been digitally edited in some way. (Research demonstrations AI detection software is flawed, and readers should be skeptical of the tools’ conclusions.)
It’s possible that someone transferred Melania Trump’s head onto another body. Additionally, the redacted women’s arms had markedly different color tones than their chins and foreheads, suggesting the bodies may have been digitally edited.
A reverse image search found no credible sources sharing the alleged photo. The highest quality version of the image appeared as part of a thumbnail on January 30. YouTube video “Melania’s email is in the Epstein files and it’s bad..” YouTuber Keith Edwards, who created the video, has a history of using AI-generated images. some we have fact checked previously in videos and social media posts. We’ve reached out to Edwards to learn more about the photo that allegedly shows Melania Trump with Maxwell and will update this post accordingly.
(YouTube user Keith Edwards)
The label on the so-called Polaroid photo in the screenshot read “Mar-a-Lago ’98.” We couldn’t find any verified photos of Melania Trump with Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 1998. However, several photos on Getty Images show Melania Trump posing with Maxwell at fashion shows in 1998. September 2000 And November 2002and with Epstein and Maxwell Mar-a-Lago inside February 2000.
Snopes fact-checked numerous photos of Maxwell and Epstein with prominent people. real And fake Footage of the disgraced financier with President Donald Trump fake picture With British politician Nigel Farage. We also did a fact check real Photo of Maxwell with billionaire Elon Musk allegations.
Sources:
Christensen, Laerke. “Don’t Be Fooled by Photos of Trump, Epstein, Young Women and Children.” Snopes, February 2, 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/photo-trump-epstein-children/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Dapcevich, Madison. “Photos of Trump Next to Diddy and Epstein are Real.” Snopes, December 6, 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/photos-trump-combs-epstein/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Deng, Rae. “17 Rumors About Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxwell.” Snopes, July 23, 2025, https://www.snopes.com//collections/epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-rumors/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Deng, Rae. “Don’t be fooled by this image of Epstein with Nigel Farage.” Snopes, February 3, 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/image-epstein-nigel-farage/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Epstein Library. Ministry of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/epstein. Access date: 6 February 2026.
“From left to right, American Real Estate Developer Donald Trump and His…” Getty Images, December 10, 2019, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/from-left-american-real-estate-developer-donald-trump-and-news-photo/1192977790. Access date: 6 February 2026.
“Ghislaine Maxwell, Naomi Campbell, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss…” Getty Images, 23 August 2019, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ghislaine-maxwell-naomi-campbell-donald-trump-and-melania-news-photo/1169684623. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Liles, Jordan. “Is the Elon Musk and Ghislaine Maxwell Photo Real?” Snopes, April 25, 2022, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/musk-maxwell-photo/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
McShane, Julianne. “Melania Trump Denies All But ‘Casual’ Connections to Epstein and Maxwell.” MS NOW, April 9, 2026, https://www.ms.now/news/melania-trump-denies-all-but-casual-ties-to-epstein-and-maxwell. Access date: 10 April 2026.
“Portrait of American Real Estate Developer Donald Trump, from Left…” Getty Images, December 6, 2019, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-from-left-american-real-estate-developer-donald-news-photo/1192330903. Access date: 6 February 2026.
“Future Married Couple Portrait of Model Melania, From Left…” Getty Images, July 3, 2020, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-from-left-future-married-couple-fashion-model-news-photo/1254069355. Access date: 6 February 2026.
Winter, Emery. “Photo from the Epstein Files Shows Trap Door Opening to Water. Here’s Its Possible Purpose.” Snopes, February 6, 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/epstein-files-trapdoor-photo/. Access date: 6 February 2026.
