🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Donald Trump's marriage to Melania made headlines this week after a new book about Sen. Mitt Romney alleged the former president once bragged of plans to "drop" his then-girlfriend and now wife.
Trump's team hit back at the claims in the book, calling Romney "a loser" who was "creating false stories to stay relevant."
However, secrets about their marriage were not the only horror story at the Trumps' door this week, with a rumor that Melania had the White House exorcised while First Lady.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @pope_head, posted on October 19, 2023, viewed 115,500 times, stated: "Apparently Melania Trump had a Maronite priest exorcise the White House lmao."
The post included a photo of Donald Trump standing next to a priest.
The Facts
While official figures are not available, multiple reports in the past decade attest to an increase in the number of exorcisms performed in the U.S. and across the globe.
Last year, a survey of 120 Italian exorcists by a Vatican-approved university in Rome found they were overwhelmed by a growing number of "possessed" people, with one researcher saying some exorcists were seeing 30 to 50 cases a day.
However, the claim that Melania Trump perhaps hired one is not true.
The rumor has been circulating for several years and has been debunked on multiple occasions. According to the Associated Press and repeated in other reports, Indiana pastor Paul Begley alleged Melania said she would refuse to move into the White House until it was exorcised.
Begley had made the remarks on an internet radio show in 2018, claiming "demonic" items were removed and anointing oil used. However, Begley did not provide verifiable evidence to support his claim, an investigation by fact-checking site Snopes found.
A spokesperson for the First Lady said in 2018 that the claims shared on social media were "not true in any way."
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Donald Trump via email for comment.
The photo shared on Facebook is of Donald Trump with Father Andre Mahanna, a Maronite pastor who also appeared at a Donald Trump rally in 2016. There is no evidence that he performed an exorcism.
The Ruling
False.
The rumor that Melania Trump had the White House exorcised has been circulating for several years. It was based on an interview with a pastor who made the claim without any verifiable proof. A spokesperson for the former First Lady said the claims were completely false.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
About the writer
Tom Norton is Newsweek's Fact Check reporter, based in London. His focus is reporting on misinformation and misleading information in ... Read more