A viral claim is circulating on social media that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was thrown out of a meeting with US President Donald Trump and other European leaders, as they discussed peace in Ukraine at the White House.
Some posts say that Trump said he "only wanted to talk to leaders" at the gathering in Washington, DC, on 18 August, while others say that Trump told her he wanted "a grown-up talk with important people" before asking her to wait outside.
In addition to Trump and von der Leyen, those attending the meeting were Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The social media posts, some of which have over a million views, appear to originate from right-wing, alternative media outlets, such as Apollo News, which attribute the claim to Omid Nouripour, vice president of the German Bundestag.
The article contains a clip of Nouripour on German TV channel ntv, saying that von der Leyen had to leave the room because the Americans said they only wanted to talk to leaders.
The allegations have also appeared in other fringe outlets with clear anti-EU and anti-von der Leyen stances, which quote the Apollo News report and erroneously accuse the European Commission president of having no political legitimacy and only gaining her position thanks to Macron.
However, the European Commission's deputy chief spokeswoman has said that none of the claims is true.
She said that von der Leyen participated in all meetings, at all times, alongside other European leaders.
Nouripour has since corrected his initial statement in response to Arianna Podestà's post on X, stating that he accidentally referred to false reports, and that it was "good and proper" that von der Leyen was there, representing the rest of the EU member states.
His office told EuroVerify that Nouripour was originally referring to reporting by German media outlets Bild and Der Spiegel, which said that a meeting occurred "only among leaders", excluding von der Leyen and NATO's Rutte.
Neither outlet responded to EuroVerify's request for comment as of the time of publishing. Ntv, however, has issued its own correction in its reporting on Nouripour's comments.
In fact, footage from the White House meeting shows Trump even musing aloud that von der Leyen may be the most powerful of the European leaders gathered there, as she represents 27 countries.
Trump said von der Leyen was "somebody that we just made a big deal with", referring to the US-EU trade and tariff deal signed at the end of July.
"With all of those countries, I don't know, I think you might be more powerful than all these guys at this table, I don't know," Trump told her. "But we had a great negotiation and you're respected all over the world, so I want to thank you very much for being here."
"It's a great honour to have you," the US president said, a far cry from claims that he threw von der Leyen out of the talks.
