A photo authentically depicts extensive gold decorations that U.S. President Donald Trump added to the Oval Office at the start of his second term.
In mid-July 2025, after Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa visited the Oval Office to meet with U.S. President Trump, an image comparison began circulating online. The pair of images showed how the Oval Office looked during the Biden administration compared to its appearance a few months into Trump’s second term.
A Snopes reader wrote in an email asking: “Is this a real photo of the gold Trump has added to the Oval Office?”
One July 16 X post read (archived): “The Oval Office, then and now,” accompanied by the top-and-bottom image comparison.
(JoeMyGod/X)
The post gained over 1.9 million views and more than 40,000 likes as of this writing. Similar posts appeared across X (archived), Reddit (archived), and Threads (archived).
The bottom image showing Trump and Al Khalifa meeting at the Oval Office and the top image showing Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer were both authentic.
The Biden image was almost identical to a video from The Associated Press published on July 10 recording the meeting of the two. The Trump image was almost identical to the White House livestream of the Oval Office meeting on July 16, except that it was overexposed compared to the video.
Several major news outlets had reported on the gold renovations since Trump’s return to office. According to Newsweek, the space was transformed from Biden’s nondescript décor into what the publication described (archived) as a “gold-drenched centerpiece” of Trump’s second administration. The Wall Street Journal reported (archived) that Trump enlisted assistance from his Mar-a-Lago decorator to redesign the space, adding gilded carvings.
The gold elements include historic items (archived) from the White House collection dating back to the early and mid-19th century, positioned on the fireplace mantle. Additional decorative elements included (archived) gold cherubs above doorways, gilded mirrors, gold eagles on side tables and a gold-plated replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy behind the Resolute Desk.
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