No body double: Trump blasts #FakeMelania theories
WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump is not amused by the #FakeMelania conspiracy theories circulating on social media.
He spun off a new theory on Wednesday to debunk the idea that there’s a body double of his wife who steps in for her at times. The “fake news” did it, he claimed without evidence.
Trump alleged on Wednesday in a tweet that photos of his wife had been altered to make them appear as though a look-alike accompanied him to Alabama last week to survey tornado damage.
His favorite morning TV program, “Fox & Friends,” reported on the body-double theory Wednesday as the show’s hosts weighed in on a discussion that aired Monday on ABC’s “The View.” Hosts of the ABC program debated whether an impostor had traveled with Trump.
“The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it’s actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places,” the president tweeted. “They are only getting more deranged with time!”
Hosts of “The View” had commented on how the woman at Trump’s side in photos of the trip appeared shorter than usual and had a different facial structure than the first lady’s. One host allowed that the first lady might have been wearing flat shoes.
In fact, the 5-foot-11 first lady had ditched her customary stilettos for sneakers to walk around the rough terrain with the 6-foot-3 Trump.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on who specifically Trump thought had doctored the photos. The president showed his frustration with press coverage of his wife during an interview this week with a conservative online news organization.