In late November 2019, hearings were underway in an impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he had been accused in a whistleblower complaint of attempting to extort damaging information on a potential political rival from the Ukrainians by withholding crucial military aid.
So when Snopes readers saw images online of Trump clutching notes written with a Sharpie pen that read in all-capital letters, in part, "I WANT NOTHING," some people were skeptical.
President #DonaldTrump holds notes while speaking to the media before departing the White House for Texas ?: Mark Wilson #QuidProQuo pic.twitter.com/9Ee3tqKL8Z
— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) November 20, 2019
The notes in fact were real. The image was shot by Getty photographer Mark Wilson on Nov. 20, 2019, which he managed to capture on the South Lawn of the White House. Trump was speaking to journalists just before departing on Marine One. In full, the notes said, "I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO. TELL ZELLINSKY [sic] TO DO THE RIGHT THING. THIS IS THE FINAL WORD FROM THE PRES OF THE U.S.”
The notes apparently refer to the debate during impeachment proceedings as to whether Trump had demanded a quid pro quo exchange of damaging information about former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's potential 2020 political rival, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for U.S. weapons.
However, some on Twitter used the opportunity for humor after noticing the words on the page seemed to echo the tone of melancholy rock music.
Inspired by @pattonoswalt , here's Trump's notes as if Morrissey wrote them into song, performed by me pic.twitter.com/Emka5wVwzM
— Appa the Flying ?ison (@victoryrhoad) November 20, 2019
Emo Trump recites poem on White House lawn pic.twitter.com/rAD3xRjX4L
— Nick Lutsko (@NickLutsko) November 20, 2019
somebody on twitter today: trump's weird hand-scrawled denial today sounds like a ramones song.
me: pic.twitter.com/mynZjx0E0M
— Alex Kliment (@SaoSasha) November 21, 2019
Part of the reason the image of the notes went viral may have been due to another Sharpie-related Trump incident. In September 2019, Trump was widely criticized for displaying a map of areas that would be affected by Hurricane Dorian. The map had a Sharpie mark on it that falsely indicated Dorian would hit Alabama.