When and where did Donald Trump make the statement about IDs and retailers in 2024?
Executive summary
Donald Trump repeatedly made the claim that Americans must show photo ID to buy groceries — a statement reported from multiple moments during his post-2018 public appearances and revived during his 2024–2025 public campaign and presidency. Contemporary fact‑checks say the claim is false: routine grocery and retail purchases do not require photo ID except for limited cases like alcohol, tobacco, certain medications or membership stores [1] [2] [3].
1. Where the claim appeared: rallies, interviews and press events
Reporting ties versions of the “ID to buy groceries” claim to several settings rather than one single location: AP and other outlets documented Trump making the remark at a rally in Tampa/Florida State Fairgrounds in 2018 and at subsequent campaign rallies and press events where he argued for voter‑ID laws [1] [4]. Later iterations were captured in interviews and broadcasts during his 2024 campaign — for example, Snopes highlights remarks aired by Sky News and comments on podcasts and campaign stops where Trump said people “give ID” at grocery stores and gas stations [5]. Multiple news outlets report the claim reappeared during the 2024 cycle and again into 2025 coverage [2] [6].
2. When the claim was voiced: a recurring trope from 2018 through 2024–25
The timeline in reporting shows this was not a one‑off slip: AP and BBC archived the initial widely noted instance from 2018 [1] [7], and outlets including AP, Snopes, CNN and People documented Trump reviving the claim during the 2024 campaign and again in 2025 reporting cycles [4] [5] [2] [6]. Fact‑checkers and journalists describe repeated restatements — e.g., the 2018 quote about needing a “picture on a card” to buy groceries, and later lines such as “if you buy a loaf of bread, you got to have your ID out” reported in campaign interviews [1] [5].
3. What the claim actually said (examples of wording used)
Contemporaneous coverage reproduces Trump framing voter ID as logical because, he said, people need ID for everyday transactions: “If you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID. You go out, you want to buy anything, you need ID” (reported by AP from the Tampa remarks) [1]. Other outlets quoted similar phrasings in later appearances, including references to gas stations and bread [5] [6].
4. How fact‑checkers and newsrooms evaluated the claim
Major fact‑checks concluded the assertion is unfounded: AP’s and other checkers’ reporting states no photo ID is generally required to buy groceries or make routine credit/debit purchases; IDs are required in limited, specific circumstances (alcohol, tobacco, certain medications, personal checks, membership clubs) — contrary to Trump’s blanket statement [1] [2] [3]. Snopes and PolitiFact similarly explain the claim mischaracterizes ordinary retail practice [5] [3].
5. Political context and competing narratives
Trump deployed the grocery‑ID anecdote while pressing for broad voter‑ID legislation; his framing connects everyday ID norms to ballot security. Supporters frame voter‑ID as commonsense and aligned with other ID‑dependent transactions, while critics and fact‑checkers say the grocery analogy is inaccurate and used politically to justify restrictive voting rules [1] [4]. Reporting also notes partisan stakes: Democrats argue voter‑ID laws can suppress turnout among minorities and low‑income voters, whereas Republicans say ID requirements prevent fraud — the grocery claim was used to bolster the latter argument despite factual disputes [1].
6. Limitations and what’s not in the available reporting
Available sources document multiple instances across 2018–2025 where Trump made versions of the supermarket‑ID claim, but they do not provide a definitive single “first utterance” in 2024 nor a complete catalogue of every time he said it; specific timestamps for every 2024 appearance are not listed across these clips [1] [5] [2]. If you seek the exact date/time/video of a particular 2024 occurrence, those precise event transcripts or raw video timestamps are not reproduced in the sources provided here (not found in current reporting).
7. Bottom line for readers
Trump repeatedly stated — at rallies, interviews and campaign events from 2018 into the 2024 campaign — that people must show ID to buy groceries, using that claim to argue for voter‑ID laws; multiple independent fact‑checks have ruled the statement inaccurate because routine retail purchases generally do not require photo ID except in specific, limited cases [1] [2] [5]. Readers should weigh the political purpose of the analogy (advancing voter‑ID policy) against the factual findings about retail ID practices presented by the fact‑checking outlets [1].