A screenshot claiming to show a statement made by former US president Donald Trump about the actor Alec Baldwin in the wake of the fatal Rust on-set shooting has been circulating online.
The 'Save America' masthead can be seen at the top of the image and the date October 27, 2021, with text that reads: "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 his theory. Alec, you aren't me! Now you're going to prison, as you should have because of that terrible job you did on SNL (which I have hosted)."
The statement was not released on Trump's official website. Reuters did not find any coverage of the statement.
No record of the statement can be seen on his official website. A web archived version of his website for October 28 does not include a similar statement regarding Baldwin.
The statement circulating online was also not published on Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington's Twitter account. Harrington regularly tweets official Trump statements . A Twitter advanced search did not reveal any tweet mentioning Alec Baldwin published by Harrington
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Verdict
False. Former U.S. president Donald Trump did not release a statement about Alec Baldwin on October 27. The image was fabricated.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts.
Reuters
