Authentic photos of Trump with daughter Ivanka as a child recirculate online

A collage of two photographs showing U.S. President Donald Trump with his daughter Ivanka Trump sitting on his lap as a child periodically resurfaces on social media. 

In March 2026, for example, one X post (archived) captioned it “This is not how a dad holds his daughter.”

(X user @AndrewTradesNQ)

Over the years, the collage appeared on social media platforms such as Threads, Pinterest, Reddit, X, Imgur and Know Your Meme.

In short, both photographs were authentic and indeed depicted the president and his daughter, which is why we rated this claim true.

Origin of the photographs

The picture on the right of the collage was featured in a Time magazine article titled “Ivanka Trump’s Life in Pictures.” According to the piece, the photograph was taken by Brian Smith at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1996. Its caption read: “Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka.”

Smith’s official website also contained the image, as well as four others of the two in slightly varied poses.

(briansmith.com)

The picture on the left of the collage was sourced from Ivanka Trump’s official Instagram account. She shared the image on Dec. 12, 2013, with the caption “Me and my dad.”

This isn’t the first time Snopes has fact-checked images of Trump allegedly posing with Ivanka or other young girls. For instance, we investigated a photo showing Trump with Ivanka as a child posing on a bed. We have also debunked claims an image showed Trump with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a young girl.

Sources