In mid-July 2025, an old photo widely circulated on social media purportedly showing convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell with U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump.
The picture spread amid reports that Maxwell, an associate of sex trafficker and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, may be willing to testify before Congress about Epstein's activities. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence (archived) for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
One X user who shared the photograph (archived) suggested that its alleged existence explained why the Republican Party did not want Maxwell to testify before Congress: "Why don't Republicans want Ghislaine Maxwell to testify? Answer."
(BlackKnight10k/X)
The X post, which had amassed roughly 380,000 views as of this writing, came after Republicans in the House of Representatives blocked a legislative amendment demanding the release of the so-called Epstein files.
Meanwhile, a similar post featuring the image appeared elsewhere on X (archived).
In short, the picture was authentic and not digitally manipulated or produced using artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, we have rated this claim as true.
The picture can be found on Getty Images, where the caption stated that it showed "future married couple fashion model Melania Knauss (later Melania Trump) and American real estate developer Donald Trump, with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell." Getty's caption said it was taken on Sept. 18, 2000, at the Anand Jon Fashion Show in New York City.
For further reading, Snopes also investigated whether another photo showed Maxwell posing with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.