Did fact-checkers verify the authenticity of the Hawaiian tragic model photo of Trump?
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Executive summary
Fact-checkers and news outlets quickly examined many images from the Jeffrey Epstein estate release, and multiple news reports say an unredacted photograph shows Donald Trump flanked by women in Hawaiian leis who have been identified as adult Hawaiian Tropic models [1] [2] [3]. However, prominent independent fact-check organizations cited in the available reporting focused their formal verifications on other Epstein-related image claims and AI-manipulated hoaxes, not on a standalone Snopes/PolitiFact-style verdict explicitly labeled “Hawaiian Tropic photo authenticated,” leaving a gap between journalistic reporting and a single authoritative fact-check citation [4] [5] [6].
1. What the “Hawaiian leis” photo is and where it came from
The contested image emerged as part of a trove of photos released from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate; an initially redacted black-and-white shot showed Trump posing with six women wearing leis, and news outlets reported that the redactions fuelled speculation the women were victims rather than adult models [7] [1] [2].
2. How unredacted files and reporters described the subjects
Several news outlets — including AOL, News18 and the Telegraph — reported that unredacted versions identified the women as Hawaiian Tropic models who had attended an event at Mar-a-Lago, and quoted at least one woman describing Trump as “gentlemanly” that evening, presenting the mainstream reporting view that the photograph depicts consenting adult models, not victims [1] [2] [3].
3. What independent fact-checkers actually verified (and what they did instead)
Leading fact-check organizations referenced in the available corpus investigated and debunked a range of related image claims — for example, Snopes checked a widely shared claim about a Melania photo purportedly taken on Epstein’s plane and found the plane claim false, and Snopes and Lead Stories independently debunked other viral images of Trump that were AI-generated or fabricated [4] [8] [9] [6]. Poynter/PolitiFact and other verification outlets likewise traced AI-manipulated videos linked to Epstein-era imagery and labeled some viral clips as fake, but the provided sources do not show a single, clearly labeled fact-check entry that exclusively and authoritatively “authenticated” the Hawaiian-Tropic-models-with-Trump” image [5] [6].
4. Competing narratives, incentives and why this matters
Republican commentators and outlets framed the redactions as misdirection by Democrats — arguing that unredacted files showed adult models and accusing Democrats of "cherry-picking" to imply victimization — while Democrats defended redactions as a precaution to “prevent harm to victims,” an explicit tension highlighted by partisan sources [10] [1]. Those incentives shape both how the images were presented and how urgently different parties called for or against additional verification, meaning the interpretation of the same photographs became a political battleground as much as a factual one [10].
5. Limits of the public record and the practical answer
Given the available reporting, reputable news organizations published accounts saying unredacted images identify the women as Hawaiian Tropic models [1] [2] [3], and major fact-checkers documented and debunked other Epstein-related image hoaxes [4] [5] [6]. But the supplied sources do not include a named, standalone fact-check article whose sole purpose was to certify the authenticity of that specific Hawaiian-Tropic photo; therefore the most accurate statement is that mainstream reporting corroborated the models’ identity while fact-checkers focused on adjacent falsified images and AI manipulations rather than issuing a single conclusive verification of that one redacted-to-unredacted image in the documents provided [1] [2] [5].