In mid-October 2025, social media posts claimed an American flag bearing a swastika appeared in the office of Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Taylor of Ohio.
A photo included in the posts appeared to show one of Taylor's staffers seated in front of a gray cubicle wall where the flag was displayed.
One X post (archived) sharing the claim garnered millions of views since it was first shared on Oct. 15. It read:
A friend in DC had a Zoom call with Congressman Dave Taylor's office today…
Taylor's legislative correspondent, Angelo Elia, had what can only be described as an American swastika flag prominently displayed in his background.
The photo and accompanying claim about the swastika-bearing American flag in Taylor's office spread elsewhere on X and on Instagram (archived here, here and here).
Some commenters questioned the authenticity of the image, referring to it as "photoshop" or saying it appeared to be fake. Multiple Snopes readers also emailed us to ask whether an American flag bearing a swastika was really displayed in Taylor's office.
On Oct. 15, Politico reported (archived) it had obtained an image taken during a virtual meeting meeting that showed an American flag altered to include a swastika pinned to a wall behind Angelo Elia, one of Taylor's staffers. The image Politico published appeared to match the one circulating on social media, featuring the same cubicle wall, the altered flag and what appeared to be a pocket Constitution as well as a photo of a person wearing a red shirt.
While the photo appeared to be legitimate and did not show obvious signs of digital manipulation, Snopes was unable to independently verify its authenticity.
We contacted the X user who shared the photo and suggested it came from a friend who participated in a Zoom call with Taylor's office. We asked whether they had received the photo directly from that friend and if they would be willing to share contact information for verification purposes. As of this writing, we had not received a response.
As Politico reported, the staffer in the photo shared on social media appeared to be Elia, based on a resemblance to an image of him on LegiStorm, a database of information about members of Congress. LegiStorm identified him as a legislative correspondent for Taylor.
At the time of publication, it was unclear what, if any, role Elia may have played in the incident. Taylor later said he was "confident" that none of his employees would "knowingly display" such an image. We contacted Elia to confirm the authenticity of the photo and to ask whether he was aware the flag was visible in the background at the time. We will update this story if we receive a response.
On Oct. 15, Taylor issued a statement (archived) addressing what he called an incident of "vandalism" that occurred in his Washington, D.C., office. He did not refer directly to an altered American flag bearing a swastika, saying that he was "aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office."
The full statement was as follows:
I am aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office. The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms. Upon learning of this matter, I immediately directed a thorough investigation alongside Capitol Police, which remains ongoing. No further comment will be provided until it has been completed.
The next day, Taylor issued another statement, sharing "new details" that had emerged from what he called "a coordinated investigation."
According to Taylor, an "unidentified group or individual" targeted "numerous Republican offices," including his own, by distributing American flags bearing a "similar symbol" to the one discovered in his office. He said the flags appeared indistinguishable from ordinary American flags to the naked eye but did not elaborate on what set them apart.
"After a full-scale investigation, I am confident that no employee of this office would knowingly display such a despicable image, and the flag in question was taken down immediately upon the discovery of the obscured symbol it bore," Taylor said. He added that he would continue to work with Capitol Police and the Committee on House Administration to uncover additional details.
Snopes called and emailed the Capitol Police's public information office to confirm whether the department was investigating the incident. An automatic reply to our email said the office was closed for routine business amid the federal government shutdown. At the time of this writing, no one had returned our phone call.
We will update this story as more details about the incident and resulting investigation emerge.
For further reading, we investigated a claim that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's speech at slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk's memorial included Nazi subtext.