In August 2025, a photo circulated online that claimed to authentically show Russian President Vladimir Putin holding his nose while he rode with U.S. President Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential state car, which is nicknamed "The Beast."
Trump and Putin met in Alaska on Aug. 15, to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
One post (archived) of the photo had 4.1 million views on X at the time of this writing.
The X user captioned the image, "Putin found out the hard way." The caption appeared to refer to a years-old rumor that Trump had a pungent body odor.
The image and related claims also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and TikTok (archived). Snopes readers searched our site for more information about the photo.
However, careful review of the photo found that an unknown individual had digitally edited the image to show Putin holding his nose. Snopes matched the shadows and reflections on the outside of the vehicle to footage from The Associated Press, NBC News and Zvezda, a Russian state-owned broadcaster run by the country's Ministry of Defense, showing Trump and Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. None of those broadcasts contained a frame matching the photo circulating online. Therefore, we've rated this photo fake.
The reflections on the outside of the vehicle matched those in the photo in all three broadcasts Snopes reviewed. However, in the moments when the reflections on the vehicle matched the photo allegedly showing Putin holding his nose, the Russian president was instead smiling and looking out toward the gathered press.
(X user @BY1959/AP/NBC/Zvezda/Snopes Illustration)
The edited photo circulated alongside captions that alluded to a years-old claim that Trump had a pungent body odor. Snopes previously debunked a version of this rumor that came from a political satirist. Republicans (archived), journalists and comedians (archived) have made the claim in recent years. In 2024, Adam Kinzinger, formerly a Republican U.S. representative from Illinois, described Trump's odor to late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel as "armpits, ketchup, makeup and a little butt."
Comedian Kathy Griffin also claimed in 2023 that Trump "does smell really bad." Griffin based her claim on her appearances on "Celebrity Apprentice," a TV show Trump hosted before he moved into politics, dating back to 2010.
In 2020, Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House press secretary during Trump's first term
It was unclear whether Scaramucci's "stinks" referred to body odor or was the former press secretary's assessment of Trump's ability to do his job.
Snopes has not independently verified claims about Trump's body odor.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on rumors that the Oval Office was fumigated after Trump's first term and that the president passed gas during an April 2024 hush-money trial in New York.