Fact Check: Did Trump reply 'No' when asked about his father’s 1927 KKK arrest?

WASHINGTON, DC: A viral post claims that a reporter confronted President Donald Trump about his criticism of Abdul El-Sayed's family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and his own father's reported arrest at a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) event in 1927.

According to the post, Trump responded with a one-word answer: “No.” The post has sparked interest because it draws a comparison between Trump's accusations against El-Sayed's family and his own family's history. But did this exchange really happen?

Claim: Trump allegedly replied 'No' when asked about his father’s reported KKK arrest

The X account @HalfwayPost shared a “BREAKING” exchange in which a reporter allegedly confronted Trump about his criticism of Abdul El-Sayed’s family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and his father Fred Trump’s reported arrest at a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) event in Queens in 1927. The exchange ended with Trump replying, “No.”

Fred Trump’s reported arrest in 1927 occurred during a clash involving police and KKK members. The incident has since become a subject of political commentary, particularly in discussions about family connections and guilt by association.

The X post included the following alleged exchange: “A reporter asked Donald Trump, ‘Since you’re accusing Abdul El-Sayed of being in the Muslim Brotherhood because of his mom, does that mean you’re in the KKK because your dad got arrested at a Klan rally?’ to which Trump stared for a few seconds, frowned, and said, ‘No.’”

Within a few hours of posting, the claim had gained more than 1 million views and sparked debate online. One X user wrote, “Give the reporter the anchor job.”

Another commenter said, “This just sounds like a scenario that could actually happen lmao.” A third user commented, “The press is getting rude (but fair), and i LOVE it.”

Fact Check: False

The viral post is satire because the alleged exchange never took place.

Trump has repeatedly accused Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Michigan, of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has called El-Sayed a “Muslim Brotherhood member” and a “Muslim radical.”

These accusations refer to social media posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister about their mother’s alleged activism with the group in Egypt in the early 1970s.

El-Sayed has denied having any personal or family ties to the organization and publicly disavowed the group. He has also said that his father and stepmother primarily raised him after his parents divorced when he was young.

The satirical post uses these real details to invent a reporter’s question and Trump’s alleged reaction.

Although some opinion pieces have drawn similar comparisons involving family history, no evidence supports the claim that this exchange happened during a live interaction.