In late April 2025, an image spread online showing a purported screenshot from Fox News in which U.S. President Donald Trump was shown standing in the Oval Office during an episode of "The Ingraham Angle." The screenshot included a chyron at the bottom of the screen of an alleged quote by Trump: "It's high imperial treason to troll me on Facebook and Twitter."
The image appeared on X, Facebook and TikTok, and while some social media users laughed at it, others took it seriously, with captions like "This, from the man who insisted his slanderous words about Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, etc., are protected under "Free Speech" rights."
(Facebook user "Kathy-Mike Haley")
However, the above image was manipulated to show a fake Trump quote inserted into the chyron.
The image was taken from a real Fox News clip of Trump showing the Oval Office to Fox News host Laura Ingraham, but the chyron at the bottom of the screen had been edited with a false quote he never made during that interview. The background of the image had also been manipulated. We traced the source of the screenshot to a satirical Facebook account.
As such, we rate this screenshot as fake.
Snopes contacted Trump via the White House media team to ask if he had ever made such a comment in any interview and will update this story if we receive a response.
The real version of the interview appeared on Fox News' website on March 19, 2025, and showed Trump walking around the Oval Office in the White House, alongside Ingraham. During the clip, he gave Fox News an "exclusive tour," and discussed the decoration choices he had made as president.
The moment used in the screenshot is visible after the 7:20 mark. Trump responded to a question from Ingraham on whether he would ever talk to his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden. Trump said, "Yeah I'll talk to him," while adding that he doesn't talk to former presidents "that much." Trump said, "It's not about friends, I didn't like the job they [former presidents] did. [...] They let our country down."
Fox News had a few different chyrons in the real clip. One stated: "The Angle's exclusive tour of the Oval Office."
The chyron then changed to state: "Trump: I'll talk to Biden."
In the real screenshot, a portrait of 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan is visible over Trump's left shoulder. However, in the fake screenshot being spread across social media, a blurry image of Trump facing a woman was edited over Reagan's portrait.
(Facebook user "Kathy-Mike Haley"/Fox News)
The fake screenshot also has the watermark "@JAMBOSCHLARMBO." We found a user with that handle on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. We found the earliest example of this fake screenshot on April 17, 2025, on a Facebook page belonging to user "James Schlarmann." The same account links to the @JAMBOSCHLARMBO Instagram account, which describes the user profile as "Comedian. Satirist. Amateur Professional." These accounts all posted similar Fox News-related screenshots of other political figures with fake chyrons.
Further, numerous online searches produced no credible evidence that Trump ever made such a statement. Searches on Google and Newspapers.com, for instance, produced no matching results.
Trump has accused news organizations of "treason" in the past, seemingly over their coverage of his purported Russia ties. In September 2023, he accused news organizations of "country threatening treason" on his social media platform, TruthSocial:
They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its "Country Threatening Treason." Their endless coverage of the now fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia, and much else, is one big Campaign Contribution to the Radical Left Democrat Party. I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.
Snopes has previously reported on fake Fox News chyrons, including the claim Tom Homan, Trump's "border czar," said he found it "offensive that Taco Bell has items in Mexican, not English." We also reported on a fake chyron claiming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "Avoid woke things like math, and you'll love the tariffs." Snopes also reported on a fake Fox News chyron about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announcing that anyone who said "f*** Trump" would be sent to El Salvador.
In sum, the Fox News chyron is not real, nor is the claim that Trump said trolling him on social media was "treason."