Fact check: Trump posts fake quote of Denzel Washington supposedly praising him

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President Donald Trump has shared another fake quote on social media, this time a fabricated comment in which “Denzel Washington” supposedly heaps praise upon him.

The phony quote that Trump’s Monday post wrongly attributed to the legendary actor has previously been wrongly attributed to fellow celebrities Mick Jagger and Matthew McConaughey, the fact-checking website Snopes reported .

Fictitious claims about Washington publicly declaring himself a Trump supporter have circulated online for years . Washington has generally kept a low political profile, but federal records show he made donations to support Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump, in 2016.

Trump has long used his social media accounts to both make his own false claims and amplify false claims from others, including conspiracy theories and imaginary quotes. In 2019, he shared a glowing but fake quote about himself that an obscure account had wrongly attributed to former President Ronald Reagan. This spring, he shared a fake quote attacking Obama that a pro-Trump commentator had wrongly attributed to Republican Sen. John Kennedy.

Trump posted the fake praise wrongly attributed to Washington on Monday morning. The president’s post, on his Truth Social platform, was an image of a Saturday post made by a pro-Trump X account called “Red Eagle Updates.”

That post said “BOOM,” and then quoted Washington as supposedly saying this: “I’ve worked with a lot of people in my life, and I’ve never met anyone braver, smarter, or who cares more about America than Donald Trump. He’s a great friend and an even better president. I’m proud to be a steadfast supporter, and I’ll never apologize for it.”

Media outlets including MeidasTouch and Mediaite noted Monday morning that the supposed quote was fake. Alan Nierob, a representative for Washington, confirmed to The Washington Post that the quote was “not real” and said he had “no idea where it came from.”

维托里奥·祖尼诺·塞洛托/盖蒂图片社

唐纳德·特朗普总统在社交媒体上分享了另一条虚假引言，这次是捏造的一条评论，其中“丹泽尔·华盛顿”据称对他大加赞扬。

据事实核查网站 Snopes 报道，特朗普周一发布的帖子错误地将一句虚假引语归于这位传奇演员，而这句引语此前也曾被错误地归于其他名人，如米克·贾格尔和马修·麦康纳。

多年来，网上一直流传着华盛顿公开宣称自己是特朗普支持者的虚假消息。华盛顿通常保持低调的政治姿态，但联邦记录显示，他曾在2008年向民主党总统候选人巴拉克·奥巴马捐款，并在2016年向与特朗普竞选的希拉里·克林顿捐款。

特朗普长期以来利用社交媒体账号散布虚假言论，并转发他人的虚假言论，包括阴谋论和捏造的引言。2019年，他分享了一段吹捧自己的虚假引言，这段引言被一个不知名的账号错误地归于前总统罗纳德·里根名下。今年春天，他又分享了一段攻击奥巴马的虚假引言，这段引言被一位亲特朗普的评论员错误地归于共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪名下。

周一早上，特朗普在其“真相社交”平台上发布了一张图片，图片内容是周六一个名为“红鹰更新”的亲特朗普账号发布的帖子。

那篇帖子开头写着“轰！”，然后引用华盛顿的话，据说是这么说的：“我一生中和很多人共事过，但我从未见过比唐纳德·特朗普更勇敢、更聪明、更关心美国的人。他是一位伟大的朋友，更是一位杰出的总统。我为自己是他的坚定支持者而感到自豪，我永远不会为此道歉。”

包括MeidasTouch和Mediaite在内的多家媒体周一上午指出，所谓的引言是伪造的。华盛顿方面发言人艾伦·尼罗布向《华盛顿邮报》证实，该引言“并非真实”，并表示他“不知道引言的来源”。