Melania Trump has been seen little throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, largely keeping her commitments to husband Donald Trump‘s White House bid behind the scenes, with fundraisers and low-key public appearances.
The former first lady was seen at the Republican National Convention in July holding hands with the former president, showing public support shortly after his attempted assassination.
There have been pervasive rumors preceding and throughout the presidential race speculating on the health of the Trumps’ marriage, particularly with Melania’s relative absence from her husband on the campaign trail.
One such false rumor was shared online this week, with claims that Melania had filed for an e-divorce, complete with a bogus accompanying Newsweek article.
Melania Trump with Donald Trump on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. A screen grab of a non-existent Newsweek article posted on social media claimed Melania Trump had filed for divorce.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, on September 2, 2024, showed a picture seemingly showing a Newsweek article with the headline, “Melania Trump e-files for divorce as Trump campaign tanks, sentencing looms.”
A post above this stated “BREAKING: Melania Trump filed for divorce in Palm Beach County through online e-file system, time stamped today at 5:12 p.m. ET.”
The post appeared to come from the account of former Florida Department of Health analyst Rebekah Jones. Journalist Yashar Ali, who reposted the content, said: “There was a time on this app when if you criticized Rebekah or asked questions about her absurd claims, you were attacked as a fascist supporter by resistance Twitter.
“Because she was going after [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis, it meant you had to stand by her.
“It reminded me of Michael Avenatti; there was a time from 2018-2019 when if you asked any questions about Avenatti, his strategy, or the claims he was making, you would be subjected to days of nasty tweets from resistance Twitter folks.
“Madness…”
The Facts
Newsweek has not published a story with this headline. The screen grab previewing what looked like a Newsweek article is not based on a genuine report.
Jones claimed she was encouraged to manipulate data to make DeSantis‘ COVID-19 response look better, said the post was an “experiment” to test the speed with which disinformation disseminates.
“Within two hours: I made up a rumor about a presidential candidate,” Jones wrote on X.
“AI-generated ‘news’ sites reported it as fact, journalists shared it, community notes incorrectly fact-checked it, Nothing stopped its spread, Millions saw it.
“Key influencers knew what was happening and played along. Imagine if we organized and decided to create real disinformation. Imagine if we were the alt-right.”
In a response to a request for comment, Jones provided Newsweek with a link to a blog post from September 2 saying how she “started a rumor and carefully monitored its reach.” One claim in the blog post is that the story could not be fact-checked without a statement from Melania, “because the court systems take days to reflect these filings.”
Newsweek has contacted Palm Beach County court and the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority for comment.
There is no record of Melania Trump or her representatives filing a divorce petition through Palm Beach County courts and no evidence elsewhere supports the claim.
Newsweek has contacted a media representative for Donald Trump for comment.
Since her husband’s tenure as president ended on January 20, 2021, Melania has largely kept a low profile. She has missed several important events, including his Super Tuesday primary election victory party and was absent from the courtroom amid his legal cases, such as his hush money trial in New York
The Ruling
False.
There is no record of Melania Trump filing e-divorce documents through the Palm Beach County courts.
Newsweek did not publish an article called “Melania Trump e-files for divorce as Trump campaign tanks, sentencing looms.” The Newsweek article preview is fake.
The person who made the claim said the story was fake and that it was posted to show how quickly disinformation can spread.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek‘s Fact Check team
