The Trump pee tape exists
| The Trump pee tape exists | |
|---|---|
| UNVERIFIED | |
| "The Kremlin holds a video of Donald Trump with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel, which it uses as leverage over him." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Fabrication Conspiracy Theory |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2017 |
| Origin | A memo in the Steele dossier, circulated in 2016 and published by BuzzFeed News on January 10, 2017 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-03 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The claim that the Trump pee tape exists comes from one allegation in the Steele dossier: that Russian intelligence recorded Trump in 2013 at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow. No recording has ever been produced, and no public evidence supports it.
What the evidence shows
- The allegation was unverified from the start. The dossier's author, Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, relayed information from sources. In January 2017 the FBI director briefed Trump on the existence of the salacious allegations, and news organizations then reported on the briefing. The material was explicitly raw and unverified when published.
- A key source disowned it. Igor Danchenko, Steele's primary sub-source, told the FBI in 2017 that he never received evidence of a sex tape. Sergei Millian, whom the dossier named as a source, has denied involvement. Durham's team later concluded Danchenko had fabricated claimed meetings with Millian, although Danchenko was acquitted at trial on charges of lying to the FBI.
- Trump denied it, and no tape has surfaced. Trump said he is a germaphobe who would never have been in such a situation. The Mueller report mentions the allegations only in the context of what Trump said to others, and found no evidence to support them.
- Steele has not retracted. Steele has said he stands by his work, a position that his critics and defenders interpret differently.
Why it persists
The allegation is lurid and spreads easily. Skeptics of Trump can say the lack of public proof is what blackmail would look like, which makes it unfalsifiable. Defenders cite the lack of proof as a refutation, but that only shows the claim is unsupported, not disproved.
Lessons for readers
- A claim that cannot be falsified is not evidence for itself.
- Raw intelligence is not a finding. Vetting is what separates the two.
See also
- The Steele dossier proved Trump was compromised by Russia
- The Steele dossier proved Trump colluded with Russia
Sources
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation, December 2019.
- Special Counsel John Durham, report, May 2023.
- Reporting on the Danchenko case, November 2021 to October 2023.