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Did Trump say today that 14 yr old girls can make their own decisions
Executive summary
Available reporting does not show President Trump saying today that “14‑year‑old girls can make their own decisions.” Recent coverage documents Trump calling for 14‑year‑olds to be prosecuted as adults in certain jurisdictions and discussing criminal‑justice changes, but none of the provided sources quote him saying 14‑year‑old girls should be empowered to make their own sexual or marriage decisions (not found in current reporting) [1] [2].
1. What reporters actually captured: calls to try 14‑year‑olds as adults
Multiple outlets record that Trump has advocated changing laws so some 14‑year‑olds could be prosecuted as adults — for example, urging Washington, D.C., to allow prosecution starting at age 14 and to “lock them up” for violent crime — a criminal‑justice stance reported directly in The Hill and summarized elsewhere [1]. That position is the clearest, repeatedly documented policy comment in the result set; it is distinct from any claim that he said 14‑year‑old girls should have autonomous decision‑making rights about sex or marriage [1].
2. Where the rumor about lowering consent/marriage ages surfaced
A separate thread of online claims suggested Trump or his allies aimed to lower age‑of‑consent or marriage minimums to 14 and to alter sex‑crime prosecutions; Snopes investigated and framed such claims as circulating and misleading, noting the topic appeared in false or exaggerated social posts and that the matters remain mostly governed by state law [2]. That investigation connects to broader viral content but does not document a direct, contemporaneous quote by Trump asserting 14‑year‑old girls “can make their own decisions” [2].
3. How this confusion likely arose: conflation of different statements and policies
The reporting set shows at least three separate strands that could be conflated into a false quote: (a) Trump’s calls to treat some 14‑year‑olds as adults in criminal matters [1]; (b) viral claims about lowering marriage or consent thresholds that circulated online and were checked by fact‑checkers [2]; and (c) historical and archived reports of problematic comments about teenagers from decades ago [3]. Mixing those elements can create an inaccurate paraphrase portrayed as a new, direct quote [1] [2] [3].
4. Historical comments and allegations that fuel sensitivity
Reporting includes past allegations and comments about Trump and teenagers — for instance, a 1992 newspaper item widely cited that quoted him saying “in a couple of years I’ll be dating you” to 14‑year‑olds and later allegations and lawsuits that have attracted scrutiny [3]. Those older items increase the newsworthiness and public sensitivity when any story touches on minors, but they are not evidence that he recently said the particular phrase you asked about [3].
5. Fact‑checking and contested claims: what sources refute or fail to support the quote
Snopes specifically examined assertions about a Republican plan to federally lower ages to 14 and labeled such claims misleading in context; its work undermines broad online claims that new policy would make 14‑year‑olds eligible for marriage nationwide [2]. Reuters and CNN coverage of Epstein‑related documents and Trump’s responses document related controversies but do not report Trump saying 14‑year‑old girls “can make their own decisions” today [4] [5].
6. Two plausible alternative readings and their implications
One plausible reading of the coverage: Trump proposed harsher criminal penalties for teens aged 14+ (reported) — a stance that increases state and federal tension over juvenile justice [1]. The other is the viral narrative that policy or rhetoric somehow aims to normalize child marriage or lower consent ages; that narrative has been circulated and partially debunked or contextualized by fact‑checkers [2]. Each interpretation has different political implications and explains why the claim circulates widely despite lacking a direct contemporary quote [1] [2].
7. Bottom line and what to watch next
Available reporting in the sources you provided does not contain a contemporary quote from Trump asserting that 14‑year‑old girls “can make their own decisions”; instead the documented statements relate to prosecuting 14‑year‑olds as adults and to viral claims about changing age thresholds that have been scrutinized by fact‑checkers [1] [2]. If you saw a specific video or social post claiming he said that today, compare it against primary coverage (e.g., CNN, Reuters, The Hill) and fact‑checkers like Snopes to see whether the clip is taken out of context or edited — those are common mechanisms that produce misleading viral claims [5] [4] [2].