A screenshot (archived) that claimed to authentically show a Fox News chyron quoting U.S. President Donald Trump's son Eric as saying, "I don't even know [Jeffrey] Epstein's first name, so saying my dad was close to Jeffrey is a lie," circulated online in August 2025.
One version of the screenshot posted on Facebook had received more than 2,000 likes at the time of this writing.
(Facebook user William Hapeman)
Posts featuring the screenshot spread on X (archived) and Threads (archived), as well.
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence that Eric Trump actually told Fox News, "I don't even know Epstein's first name, so saying my dad was close to Jeffrey is a lie."
Rather, the rumor about the alleged Fox News chyron originated (archived) with Mrs. Putin — a Facebook page that described its output as humorous or satirical in nature. According to its About page, Mrs. Putin was a "Satire/Parody" page.
The Mrs. Putin Facebook page has a history of making up stories for shares and comments. Snopes has previously fact-checked other alleged news chyrons from the Mrs. Putin page relating to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. President Donald Trump and has been "fact-checked" in return.
Aside from its source, several elements of the screenshot itself raised suspicions about its authenticity. Firstly, the alleged chyron misspelled Fox News as "Fox Mews." Other textboxes on the chyron read "Chanel" instead of channel, "Braking Mews" instead of breaking news and "LIVER" instead of live.
The fictional story spread amid rumors that the president appeared in the U.S. Justice Department's documents relating to the late convicted sex trafficker and financier Epstein. Those rumors sparked investigations into Trump's erstwhile friendship with the financier that appeared to have ended years before Epstein died.
The Trump administration has struggled to secure a promised release of Justice Department documents related to Epstein.
Snopes has previously fact-checked a collection of chyrons about people in the news, U.S. and foreign politics.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.