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No, journalist Bob Woodward did not post on X about Donald Trump’s adult diapers
If Your Time is short
- The post originated as satire on Jan. 30, 2023.
Former President Donald Trump sued journalist Bob Woodward in 2023 for nearly $50 million for publishing audio interviews with him. But Woodward’s response was not to mock Trump for wearing adult diapers, as social media users claimed.
"Since Donald Trump is suing me I will reveal something I’ve never revealed before about a public figure. The scent-barrier on his Depends is completely insufficient," a screenshot of an X post purporting to be from Woodward’s account reads. Multiple Threads posts reshared the screenshot from Oct. 11 to Oct.14.
Screenshot from Threads
These Threads posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
Featured Fact-check
Depend is a brand of adult disposable underwear for bladder leakage.
The post is not on Woodward’s official X account and we found no news reports about Woodward making it.
The fake post screenshot was first shared with a parody label by an X account that said it created the post Jan. 30, 2023. The account’s bio says "most of the images we share are parodies." The Threads posts resharing the screenshot did not label it as parody or satire.
The screenshot began recirculating after Woodward announced the Oct. 15 launch of his new book, "War," which says Trump frequently called Vladimir Putin and secretly sent the Russian president COVID-19 tests in 2020 when they were in short supply.
We rate the claim that Woodward posted on X that Trump wears adult diapers Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Threads post (archived), Oct. 14, 2024
Threads post, Oct. 11, 2024
Threads post, Oct. 12, 2024
Depend, About Us, accessed Oct. 16, 2024
Bob Woodward X account, accessed Oct. 16, 2024
X post, Jan. 30, 2023
Faith Back Rub X account, accessed Oct. 16, 2024
Poynter, New books from legendary reporter Bob Woodward, PolitiFact founder Bill Adair launch today, Oct. 15, 2024
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No, journalist Bob Woodward did not post on X about Donald Trump’s adult diapers
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