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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Two posts have gone viral on the social media platform X, suggesting President Trump is considering installing a giant statue of Jesus on the White House lawn, receiving over 2.3 million views between them.
Both posts were made on Thursday, the same day that a model of a large arch across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial was photographed on a map on Trump’s Oval Office desk, with speculation that this could be built as part of the United States’s 250th anniversary celebrations in 2026.
Trump has already announced the construction of a new White House ballroom capable of holding 900 people, a bigger capacity than given by an earlier design.
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The Claim
On Thursday, shortly before 1 p.m. ET, the popular ‘USA News’ X account, which uses the handle @usanewshq and a picture of Trump as its profile image, shared a 10-second video appearing to show a giant statue of Jesus on the White House lawn facing away from the president’s residence. It is unclear how the video was generated, but one X user suggested it was made with AI.
The statue was of Jesus with his arms outstretched, similar to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The post went viral receiving over 7,500 shares and 73,000 likes from other X users, along with 1.8 million views in total. It sparked a fierce debate with one X user replying, “No. America is a nation of many faiths and separation of church and state means just that,” while another said, “I like and support the idea, but it will cost a small fortune.”
Just hours later, Matt Wallace, a conservative-leaning social media influencer, shared on X what appeared to be an AI-generated image of a large Jesus statue on the White House lawn, this time facing towards the iconic building.
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Wallace wrote: “Trump is reportedly considering putting a statue of Jesus Christ on the White House lawn. Do you support this?”
This post also went viral, receiving over 4,500 reposts, 47,000 likes and 750,000 views from other platform users.
The Facts
Neither the White House nor President Trump has released any statement indicating they plan to build a statue of Jesus on the White House lawn, nor have there been any credible media reports to this effect.
When contacted by Newsweek, a White House spokesperson responded: “This is fake.”
This isn’t the first time this hoax has gone viral on X, with one user sharing footage that appeared to show a Christ statue being installed in front of the White House on February 15. They commented: “Amazing statue of Jesus Christ, arms wide open and 200 feet tall, being placed at the White House grounds by President Donald Trump. Wow.”
However, a community note, selected by other X users, noted this was “untrue” and provided a link to a White House webcam showing no such statue near the building.
The Ruling
False.
Image showing a statue of Jesus on the White House lawn shared on X by user Matt Wallace is an AI rendering.
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