In April 2025, posts with a quote from the US President went viral on the Internet - he allegedly stated that the United States and Italy became partners back in ancient times. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.

Donald Trump's alleged statement was widely circulated on social media on April 6. Internet users wrote that, according to the US President, Italy and America have had a partnership since the times of Ancient Rome. A photograph of the translator, who at that moment was allegedly sitting next to Trump and whose face expressed extreme surprise and even dissatisfaction, is often attached to the quote. Viral publications are accompanied by captions like “The translator’s reaction speaks for itself.”

Similar posts appeared in the Telegram channel “Cotton swamp"(187,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), War Zone (14,000), "Minister of the NKVDV"(7000), etc., but they became especially popular in social networks X And Facebook.

The woman in the viral photo is named Elisabetta Savigny Ullmann. She was born in Italy, but has long lived in Washington, where she worked as a translator for all recent US presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In 2021, she has already attracted the attention of the media and social network users, who distributed her photos and videos from Biden's meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Then online noted the translator's smile and compared her facial expressions with the opposite reaction when working with Trump. As an illustration, Internet users posted the same photos of Ullman with the politician, which again became popular in the context of the alleged statement about the partnership between the United States and Italy. This suggests that, at a minimum, the pictures are not related to Trump’s current, second term.

A reverse image search on Google revealed that, for the first time, photos of a surprised Ullman appeared on the Internet back in 2019. In the upper left corner of one of the viral photos, the News Now logo is visible - so used to be called one of Fox's news divisions. On October 16, 2019, the channel posted on YouTube video from a press conference between Trump and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who arrived in Washington on an official visit. The angle from which the shooting was taken coincides with the photo from the viral collage. Trump and the translator are wearing the same clothes, so the screenshot was most likely taken while watching this broadcast.

Screenshot from video on YouTube channel LiveNow from Fox

During the entire 25-minute video, Trump did not mention the centuries-old partnership with Italy or Ancient Rome. He mainly spoke about modern US foreign policy, the importance of cooperation in the economy, defense and the fight against terrorism. Ullman's reaction remains the same throughout the video, regardless of what Trump is saying. The translator listens attentively to the president and takes notes in a notebook. This suggests that she was unlikely to be perplexed or disgusted by the president’s words - most likely, she was simply focused.

Official visits to the White House usually include a short meeting in the Oval Office for protocol statements (it was she who was caught on video with Ullman), negotiations closed to journalists and a final press conference. Video of Trump's statements after talks with Mattarella published on the verified page of his previous administration on the social network X, and there the politician actually mentions Ancient Rome. The full phrase of the US President, translated into Russian, reads as follows: “The United States and Italy are connected by a common cultural and political heritage that dates back thousands of years and goes back to Ancient Rome. For centuries, the Italian people have given our civilization magnificent works of art, achievements in science, philosophy, architecture and music. On Monday we paid tribute to the Italian explorer who led the voyage to the New World, the gentleman known as Christopher Columbus. And for me this day will always be called Columbus Day. Some people don’t like it, but I like it.”

Source: @WhiteHouse45 /X

Apparently, the beginning of this phrase became the basis for further manipulations, although Trump did not talk about partnerships with Italy for more than 2000 years, he only noted the common cultural heritage of the two countries, dating back to the times of Ancient Rome. Moreover, at that moment there was no translator with him from the viral photos.

Trump's distorted quote first spread online in October 2019, immediately after the press conference. At the same time, Internet users actively published photographs of Ulman, in whom the words of the US President allegedly caused surprise and even indignation. Her colleagues had to explain: The translator was simply focused on her work. Another round of distribution of photographs in combination with a quote attributed to Trump occurred on December 2024.

In April 2025, a new wave of similar posts began from the English-language segment of the social network X. A post by user @OlenaRohoza went viral, posted April 5 and received 8 million views. The profile description says that it belongs to the wife of a Ukrainian military man who lost both legs during the fighting. At the same time, the user publishes similar posts with questions like “Do you support Zelensky? Yes or no" or "Is Russia a terrorist state? Yes or no”, repeating them with slightly different wording. In addition, content is released very often and at short intervals, which may indicate automated activity. Currently, when you go to this page, you are informed that the owner's actions are limited due to unusual activity.

So Trump didn't say that the US and Italy have been allies since ancient Rome. This is a significantly distorted version of his statement about cultural ties between the two countries. The photo of the translator, who is credited with the unusual reaction to these words of the US President, was taken several hours before he uttered them.

Cover photo: Flickr/Trump White House Archived