In 2026, social media users claimed U.S. President Donald Trump took the historic Resolute Desk from the Oval Office and displayed it in Mar-a-Lago. Nearly every American president has used the Resolute Desk since Queen Victoria gave it to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.
Posts on Facebook (screenshot), Instagram and Threads shared an image of an ornate desk on display, surrounded by ropes, and claimed Trump "stole" the Resolute Desk for the lobby of his Florida resort. Snopes readers searched the website for information about the Resolute Desk and asked about the rumor in our Facebook tips group.
In truth, however, the image showed what appeared to be a replica of the Resolute Desk. Moving the Resolute Desk — a massive, 1,300-pound desk made from the timbers of a British Royal Navy ship — would be almost impossible to do without the White House press pool or members of the public noticing.
While the White House moved the Resolute Desk out of the Oval Office in February 2025 for "light refurbishing," photographs from Getty Images, a credible database, showed it was replaced sometime in March 2025. Photos from the same database also showed Trump behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office in June 2026.
Snopes first covered this claim in late 2025. After the publication of our original story, Rémi Le Forestier, a French cabinetmaker, emailed Snopes to claim credit for the Resolute Desk replica depicted in the photo circulating online. Le Forestier said he sent a Resolute Desk replica he designed and created directly to Mar-a-Lago in early 2025 and produced numerous photos and video evidence for proof, as well as a thank-you letter that appeared to have Trump's legitimate signature on it.
One of many images French cabinetmaker Rémi Le Forestier sent to Snopes of his Resolute Desk replica. (Rémi Le Forestier)
Le Forestier said he was "100% sure" the desk apparently displayed in the Mar-a-Lago lobby was his desk. He pointed to the desk pad, photos he has of the desk in the exact same place as the desk in the picture online and other details he recognized.
"If it's not mine, it means I've lost the plot," Le Forestier said in a WhatsApp message in French, translated with the help of a Snopes reporter fluent in the language.
As such, we have rated this image as miscaptioned.
The Trump Organization and the White House did not respond to inquiries as to the Resolute Desk's current whereabouts and whether the image online legitimately showed a copy of the Resolute Desk at Mar-a-Lago.
In 2021, Snopes debunked claims that Trump built a replica of the Oval Office in Mar-a-Lago but determined he purchased "what appears to be a 'Telluride Wood Executive Desk,' according to Politico, that somewhat resembles the historic Oval Office desk."
Image spreads without context
The earliest post of the picture circulating online appeared to be from X user @PatriotTakes, an account that bills itself as "dedicated research monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy." The account's Nov. 7, 2025, post captioned the image as a copy, not the legitimate desk — but the photo quickly spread without that context.
In an X direct message in 2025, the @PatriotTakes account said it could not remember from where, exactly, the image originated, but that it likely was a screenshot from a video someone posted, possibly during Trump's "Great Gatsby" Halloween party that year. The poster also reiterated the belief the desk at Mar-a-Lago was a copy and suggested it may be the same desk the account posted a picture of in March apparently on display in Mar-a-Lago.
The image above showed Le Forestier's desk, the cabinetmaker said. Le Forestier customized the hand carved desk to include a reversible panel with Trump's crest on it, which he said explained why the crest was not visible in the other image. In lieu of a British ship's timber, Le Forestier used oak from Belleau Wood in reference to the Battle of Belleau Wood to symbolize friendship between the United States and France.
Le Forestier said he found it "rather flattering" that people mistook his desk for the actual Resolute Desk. This isn't even the first time he's run into this problem: He told Snopes he once made a replica of the throne of Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the self-declared emperor of the Central African Empire — and a Russian-funded military company, the Wagner Group, spread the rumor in Africa that his was the original stolen by France.
"Many Central Africans remain convinced that I had the original throne," he said in a WhatsApp message.
Resolute Desk compared with image online
Photojournalists took pictures of Trump behind the real Resolute Desk shortly before and after the PatriotTakes post on Nov. 6 and Nov. 10 in the Oval Office — see this picture of the Resolute Desk from the White House Historical Association for a comparison.
Center: U.S. President Donald Trump sits behind the Resolute Desk, Nov. 6, 2025. Top left: A picture of the Resolute Desk from the White House Historical Association. (White House Historical Association/Getty Images/Snopes illustration)
While it's difficult to make definitive statements about the supposed Mar-a-Lago desk due to how blurry the image is, the replica desk does not appear to have the same level of detailed carving and the dimensions look off.
PatriotTakes also pointed out in a direct message that the replica apparently at Mar-a-Lago does not appear to have the base added to the bottom of the real desk in 1961 to raise its height, as requested by then-President John F. Kennedy to accommodate his frame, according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Center: Trump sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Nov. 6, 2025. Top left: Image circulating online of the supposed Mar-a-Lago desk. (Getty Images/X user @PatriotTakes )
Top: Resolute Desk from the White House Historical Association. Center: Resolute Desk from the Nov. 6 image of Trump sitting behind it. Bottom: The image circulating online. (Getty Images/White House Historical Association/X user @PatriotTakes)
Multiple replicas of the Resolute Desk have been made. It's also relatively easy to purchase a replica of the Resolute Desk (as long as you have the money). As of this writing, the National Archives Store sells one for $8,995.
To summarize, the picture online likely represents a replica of the Resolute Desk at Mar-a-Lago created by a French cabinetmaker who gave it to Trump. Overwhelming evidence indicated that the Resolute Desk remained in the Oval Office as of this writing and that Trump did not move it to Mar-a-Lago.
Snopes reporter Anna Rascoüet-Paz contributed to this report.