No, White House won’t appear on sex offender registry under Trump | Fact check
The claim: White House will appear on sex offender registry after Trump takes office
A Nov. 9 post (direct link, archive link) on X, formerly Twitter, shows the exterior of the White House.
“As of January 20, this address will, for the next 4 years, appear on the national registry of sex offenders,” reads the post. “What a country.”
It was reposted more than 26,000 times in eight days. Similar versions were posted on Facebook.
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Our rating: False
Trump has never been convicted of a sex crime and isn’t required to register as a sex offender, which means the White House won't appear on any such registry. He was found liable in a civil case for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump found liable for sexual abuse in civil case
In May 2023, a federal jury found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defaming her. Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
However, the outcome of that case didn’t require Trump to register as a sex offender – a claim that USA TODAY has previously debunked. The case was civil, not criminal, which means Trump was not accused and could not be convicted of a crime as part of that court action.
Maggie Gardner, a law professor at Cornell University, previously told USA TODAY there are important differences between criminal and civil cases.
"A criminal conviction means the government prosecuted you and proved your culpability beyond a reasonable doubt – that’s a much higher standard than the one typically used in civil juries, which is by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning the jury found it more likely than not that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll," Gardner said.
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Trump could not be criminally prosecuted for sexual assault because the statute of limitations had already passed. Instead, Carroll filed a lawsuit against Trump using a 2022 New York law that gave adult sexual assault victims a one-year window to sue their alleged perpetrators, regardless of when the abuse happened.
The jury chose to find Trump liable for sexual abuse, not rape, based on the state’s legal definitions.
The X post refers to a “national registry of sex offenders,” but that doesn’t exist – each state has its own registry. The Justice Department has a website that allows users to search registries for all 50 states. In New York, where Carroll sued Trump, anyone incarcerated or on parole or probation for a sex crime on or after Jan. 21, 1996, is required to register as a sex offender.
In a separate civil case, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll an additional $83 million in damages for defamation after he denied her allegations of sexual assault and said “people should pay dearly for such false accusations.”
Trump was convicted in May of criminal charges – 34 felonies – for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. It isn’t yet clear what Trump’s re-election means for the case, including his sentencing, which had been scheduled for Nov. 26 before the judge paused all proceedings. The social media user who shared the post could not be reached for comment.
Snopes also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
USA TODAY, May 9, 2023, Jury finds Donald Trump liable in civil sex abuse case of E. Jean Carroll
USA TODAY, May 16, 2023, No, Trump is not required to register as a sex offender after E. Jean Carroll case | Fact check
USA TODAY, Jan. 29, Did Donald Trump rape E. Jean Carroll? Here's what a jury and judge said.
Governor Kathy Hochul website, May 24. 2022, Governor Hochul Signs Adult Survivors Act
Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, accessed Nov. 18, About NSOPW
New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, accessed Nov. 18, Frequently Asked Questions: New York State’s Sex Offender Registry
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's White House won't be on sex offender registry | Fact check