#flag code

On Nov. 16, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House after spending a weekend at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago. As usual, a press photographer was on scene to snap photos. They went viral on social media not long after being posted online.

That's because, in the background, a U.S. flag appeared to be on the ground, which would be a breach of the U.S. flag code. That code states that the flag should "never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise."

Upon viewing the photos, several Snopes readers wrote in asking us whether they were real. They were. However, photos were taken at an angle that did not allow us to confirm whether the flag ever touched the ground. We reached out to both the White House and the photographer who took the image for more information. Until we learn more, we have omitted a truth rating for this claim.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle called the claim that the flag had touched the ground "fake news" in an email statement to Snopes. "Due to the high winds on Sunday evening in the Washington, D.C. area, the flag was lowered into a special container out of an abundance of caution during the Marine One landing," he said. 

That statement still contradicts the flag code, because the "special container" would still have been beneath the flag. 

US Veteran Jay Carey

According to Section 8(d) of the code, “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery.” Subsection (i) is even more specific: “It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs.” And (j) states, “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.” That might suggest that the newly christened secretary of war should at the very least eschew his pocket hankies. The idea of blowing one’s nose in the flag is not a great look and probably not the image he intends. When asked, Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary, dismissed the question and emailed, in part: “If loving one’s country enough to represent it head to toe is a crime, then consider Secretary Hegseth guilty. He is a patriot who reveres this country and our flag.” More pertinently, according to Susan Scafidi, the founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University, “a series of Supreme Court cases have established that First Amendment free-speech protections outweigh laws that attempt to prohibit desecration of the flag, including by wearing it.”

The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be fifty stars representing the fifty states, white in a blue field

The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.