In late June 2026, social media users circulated an image supposedly showing U.S. President Donald Trump sitting on a black towel or protective mat during a recent interview at Fox News' studios.
"I wish people would stop spreading scurrilous rumours that President Trump is constantly shitting himself in public," one Threads post (archived) read. "After all, it's perfectly normal to place a black mat underneath him when he visited the Fox News studio with its white sofa yesterday."
(Threads user @sdealw)
Another user wrote on Threads, "Why did you put a black towel under Trump? Inquiring minds want to know."
The photograph also spread on X, Reddit and Facebook, where users similarly speculated that Fox News had placed something underneath Trump because he was incontinent. One June 2026 news story also presented the image as coming from a recent television interview.
The image did not document an interview conducted in June 2026, but rather a "Fox & Friends" appearance Trump made in 2024. Video of that appearance shows the dark material beneath and beside Trump was not a towel or mat. It was the lower portion of his suit jacket. We have therefore rated the image miscaptioned.
Image came from October 2024 interview
A reverse-image search and comparison with Fox News' original footage showed that the scene came from Trump's Oct. 18, 2024, appearance on "Fox & Friends." Fox News uploaded video of that appearance to YouTube the same day.
At the time, Trump was the Republican presidential nominee and a former president. According to Fox News' description, the approximately 40-minute interview covered the Al Smith charity dinner, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' decision to skip the event and Trump's record ahead of the 2024 election.
At the beginning of the segment, Trump and the program's hosts stand in front of the white couch, with no towel, mat or other dark object visible on the seat:
(Fox News YouTube channel)
When Trump sits down, the lower part of his long, dark blue suit jacket spreads across the couch on both sides of him. Viewed in a still image, the fabric could be mistaken for a separate rectangular object on the white couch:
(Fox News YouTube channel)
The same image previously prompted the "towel" rumor to circulate when the interview originally aired in October 2024.
Journalist Aaron Rupar addressed the claim on the day of the interview, sharing footage of Trump sitting down and writing: "seeing folks tweeting that Trump was sitting on a towel during his Fox & Friends interview this morning. It's very funny but not true. It's his jacket."
Fact-checking website Lead Stories reviewed the footage in October 2024 and reached the same conclusion, noting that nothing was visible on the couch before Trump sat down and that the dark material came from his suit jacket. PolitiFact also examined the claim and reported that Fox News confirmed in a statement that the images showed Trump's jacket, not a towel.
Some circulating versions had altered colors
A comparison with the original Fox News footage showed that some versions circulating in June 2026 had altered colors across the scene.
In the original footage, Trump's suit and the fabric lying on the couch appear dark blue. In the recirculated versions, the colors of Trump's clothing and other parts of the scene differed, while the portion of his jacket on the couch appeared black rather than dark blue. This made the fabric look more like a separate towel or mat.
(Threads user @sdealw)
It was unclear whether the color changes were introduced deliberately or during the processing and reposting of the image. Either way, the original footage clearly showed that the fabric was part of Trump's jacket.
Similar rumors have circulated before
This was not the first time social media users had interpreted ambiguous or manipulated footage as evidence of an embarrassing bodily function incident involving Trump.
In February 2026, we found no credible evidence supporting claims that Trump had defecated during an executive order signing. In May, another authentic video was presented as proof that he had soiled himself while standing outside the White House, though the footage did not establish that and there was no public evidence that Trump suffered from incontinence. In June, social media users shared a video with altered audio that supposedly captured Trump waking himself up by passing gas after dozing off in the Oval Office.