Parody account spread fabricated Trump quote on Ukraine | Fact check

A Nov. 18 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims to share a purported statement from President-elect Donald Trump about President Joe Biden’s decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided weapons.
“Although I don’t have the Power of the Presidency (sic),” reads the supposed quote from Trump. “I still have power as President-Elect. I will make sure Biden does not let Ukraine use US-Supplied missiles against Russia which will lead us into nuclear war. I will stop World War III!”
The post includes an image of Trump speaking in front of a display of American flags.
It was liked more than 8,000 times in nine days.
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Trump didn’t say this. The statement doesn’t appear on his social media accounts, and there are no credible reports about Trump making the comment. The quote appeared to originate from a satirical social media account.
The Instagram post was shared following news reports about the Biden administration lifting restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-supplied weapons to hit targets farther inside Russia’s borders, a move described as a significant policy shift.
Trump repeatedly promised toend the war in Ukraine during the 2024 campaign. In his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said the conflict could “lead to World War III” and that, should he win the election, he would negotiate an end to it as president-elect before formally taking office.
However, there is no credible evidence Trump made the statement attributed to him in the post. No such statement appears on his Truth Social or X social media profiles. Nor does it appear in a continually updated archive of Trump’s Truth Social posts. There are also no reputable news reports about Trump saying he’ll “make sure” Biden doesn’t let Ukraine use U.S.-provided weapons against Russia since becoming the president-elect.
The supposed Trump quote appeared to originate as satire. A nearly identical post with the quote was shared on X on Nov. 17 by an account called “Donald J. Trump – Parody.” The account’s bio labels it as a “parody account.” The fabricated Trump quote in the X post includes the same erroneous punctuation as the quote in the Instagram post. The X post also includes a video of Trump speaking in front of the same display of American flags. Trump does not say the quote in the video, which is from January 2023, over a year before Trump won the Nov. 5 election.
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The Instagram post is an example of what could be called “stolen satire,” in which content originally written and presented as parody is captured and reposted in a way that makes it appear authentic. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here.
In a Nov. 24 interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Trump’s selection for national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, said the president-elect was “very concerned” about an escalation in hostilities in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and has been “very clear about the need to end this conflict.” Waltz added he was working “hand in glove” with Jake Sullivan, the current White House national security adviser, to deter foreign adversaries from thinking they can take advantage of the presidential transition.The Constitution doesn’t say much about presidents-elect, according to the National Constitution Center. Once Congress certifies the winner, “the only constitutional provisions related to the president-elect are related to the winner’s availability to take the oath of office.” Before inauguration, the president-elect is entitled to Secret Service protection and the use of office space. USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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