On Aug. 5, 2025, The Onion published a story with the headline "Desperate Trump Attempts To Flush 14-Year-Old Masseuse Down Toilet." A number of Snopes readers searched for this claim on our site, questioning whether or not it was real.
The story stated:
In a frantic bid to dispose of damaging evidence amid ongoing scrutiny of his relationship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a desperate President Donald Trump reportedly attempted to flush a 14-year-old masseuse down the toilet Tuesday.
"Oh Christ, c'mon, Ashley, don't get stuck—uh, just gimme one second in here!" Trump said as he jiggled the handle in a futile attempt to pass the stuck high school freshman through the toilet's 3-inch drainpipe, eventually grabbing a rubber plunger and turning on the sink to mask his sounds of panicked exertion from aides gathered outside the door. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the hell did those woke toilet companies have to make their flushes so weak? This thing could barely handle a wad of toilet paper, let alone a teen massage therapist."
According to sources, the president then squirted a bottle of massage oil around the bowl of the toilet in hopes of easing the adolescent's passage through the pipes and scolded her in a harsh whisper for doing "absolutely nothing" to help him destroy any trace of her presence.
The viral article spread on X, Reddit, and Facebook. However, it is not a factual recounting of real-life events. The Onion is widely known as a satirical news site and describes itself as such. This claim is thus labeled satire.
The Onion's "About Us" page has the following disclaimer:
The Onion® is a Satirical Newspaper. The Onion® and its associated trademarks and copyrights are published and owned by Global Tetrahedron, LLC. All rights reserved. The Onion® uses fictitious names in all its content, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental. Fake ads used within The Onion® publication and its website contain the disclaimer "This Is Not A Paid Advertisement" and such content should not be construed as being endorsed or paid for by the original creators or owners of the subject matter.
There is no authentic news coverage or source claiming that Trump ever tried to flush a 14-year-old down a toilet.
The claim poked fun at Trump as he faced increased pressure regarding his name allegedly appearing in the personal client list of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. His administration has been accused of covering up his ties to Epstein even as the Department of Justice declared no such list exists.
Snopes has addressed similar fake or satirical claims regarding Trump and underage girls, including a fake video of Trump pointing at a girl while standing with Epstein's criminal partner Ghislaine Maxwell and a fake image of Trump with a young girl. We also covered the false satirical claim that Trump wrote a post online describing the relationship between tech magnate Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance as "possibly sexual." Snopes has also published a breakdown of child rape allegations against Trump.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.