In late January 2025, a rumor circulated on social media about a New York City police official stating there were so many people urinating on U.S. President Donald Trump's Fifth Avenue high-rise, Trump Tower, it was impossible for the NYPD to arrest them all.
For example, a post about the rumor on Threads (archived) had over 32,000 likes and more than 1,000 comments.
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a fact. However, there was no evidence that the NYPD made any statements about people urinating on Trump Tower and no reputable outlet has reported on the claim.
Rather, the rumor about a plethora of people urinating on Trump Tower originated with a post on X (archived) from an account called The Halfway Post — a social media account that describes its output as humorous or satirical in nature. The bio on the X page reads: "Halfway true comedy and satire by @DashMacIntyre. I don't report the facts, I improve them." Furthermore, The Halfway Post sells a book titled "Satire in the Trump Years."
The fictional story spread as Trump continued to make headlines with a flurry of executive orders in the first weeks of his second term in office.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims from The Halfway Post in the past, including the assertion that Greenland's prime minister trolled Trump on social media and the rumor that Trump was legally declared a drag queen in Florida.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.