Trump quote on being backstage at pageants didn’t reference Miss Teen USA

A quote attributed to President Trump is being shared on social media suggesting he spoke about going backstage at a teen beauty pageant to see girls getting dressed. But this is not quite right—in the actual quote he does not mention Miss Teen USA.

The posts feature a photo of a younger Mr Trump alongside another photo showing a line of beauty pageant contestants. Text says: “‘I’ll tell you the funniest thing. I’ll go backstage before a Miss Teen USA show, and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything and no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. You know, I’m inspecting. The girls (14-16) are standing there with no clothes on. And you see these incredible looking women (teens), and so, I sort of get away with things like that’ - Trump”.

While this quote is largely accurate, Mr Trump did not refer to going backstage at “Miss Teen USA” specifically, or seeing “girls” with no clothes on.

In an episode of the Howard Stern Show in April 2005, Mr Trump said: “Well I’ll tell you the funniest is that I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed and ready, and everything else, and, you know, no men anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it, you know, I’m inspecting, I want to make sure everything is good.

“You know, the dresses. ‘Is everyone ok?’ You know they’re standing there with no clothes. ‘Is everybody okay?’ And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that”.

The edited version of the quote, with the added reference to Miss Teen USA, is circulating amid scrutiny over Mr Trump’s connection to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019. The president has ordered the US justice department to produce documents relating to Epstein.

Mr Trump has also filed a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal’s parent company and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, after the paper alleged that a birthday card bearing his name was sent to Epstein in 2003. Mr Trump has called the claim “false, malicious, defamatory” and “fake”.

We’ve previously written about edited or likely AI-generated images showing Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein or young girls. It’s important to consider whether information you see online comes from credible sources before sharing it—our fact checking toolkit offers some tips for navigating content on social media to avoid sharing misinformation.