A screenshot of a statement from former President Donald Trump is spreading via social media claiming the president called Alec Baldwin a “total loser” who is “going to prison”.
The full statement, which alleges Trump claimed the actor was “taking his impression [of Trump] to a new low” is below.
A great president (me) once said “I could shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Now Alec Baldwin, a total loser, has taken his impression of me to a new low by testing out this theory. Alec, you aren’t me! Now you’re going to prison, as you should have because of that awful, terrible job you did on SNL (which I have hosted).
The rumours are spreading in the aftermath of an apparent accidental killing on the movie set ‘Rust‘ where Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with what was described as a “prop gun”. However the statement allegedly from Trump appears to be fake.
Firstly, the statement does not appear on the website where Trump regularly posts his statements, on www.donaldjtrump.com or on any archived or cached versions of the website (which can potentially pick-up deleted content.)
Secondly, while one could claim the statement could have been posted but subsequently deleted, there are a few other giveaway signs, including the date at the top not being written in the format in which legitimate Trump statements are written. In the circulating screenshot above, the data is penned as October 27, 2021. However on legitimate statements, the data is written in typical US shorthand format – MM/DD/YY.
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Additionally, for both mobile and desktop versions of Trump’s website, there are social media share buttons on legitimate statements below the date that are lacking in the screenshot above.
Thirdly, a spokesperson for Trump has since dismissed the claim that this is a legitimate statement from Donald Trump.
As such we rank the statement above as false. It did not come from Donald Trump.