Germany, Scotland, Sweden: What has Donald Trump said about where his parents were from?

After former President Donald Trump falsely questioned his Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris’ race and ethnicity at a National Association of Black Journalists conference, Omarosa Manigault Newman criticized Trump’s characterizations of his family’s heritage. 

On July 31 on CNN’s "Laura Coates Live," Newman referred anchor Laura Coates to a detail Newman said was in Trump’s 1987 book.

"I recall in his book ‘The Art of the Deal,’ Laura, when Donald Trump identified himself as Swedish, right?" Newman said. "Because he didn’t want to acknowledge that his father was German and his mother was Irish, and he thought that that would play better to those who were patronizing his businesses. So, can we call the question his past of self-identifying as first Swedish, then German, and then Irish whenever it’s convenient? Donald doesn’t know the difference between ancestry and race."

(Internet Archive)

We contacted Newman’s agent and also tried emailing her but received no response.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung did not respond to the claim’s substance, but sent PolitiFact a statement criticizing Newman, saying, "She should work on telling the truth."

PolitiFact used Google Books to search "The Art of the Deal" for the words "Sweden" and "Swedish." The search returned two results, and only one was relevant to Trump’s family. 

"Fred Trump was born in New Jersey in 1905," read that passage. "His father, who came here from Sweden as a child, owned a moderately successful restaurant, but he was also a hard liver and a hard drinker, and he died when my father was eleven."  

(Screenshot from Google Books)

The claim in Trump’s book that his paternal grandfather, Friedrich Trump "came here from Sweden as a child," is inaccurate. 

Friedrich Trump was born in 1869 in Germany and went to the U.S. in 1885 at age 16, according to multiple news organizations including, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Politico, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, The Guardian and CBC News in Canada. 

Gwenda Blair, a journalist and biographer who wrote "The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a President" confirmed this. 

Donald Trump’s "paternal grandparents were born in Germany, his father in the U.S., his mother in Scotland," she told PolitiFact.

German historian Roland Paul in 2016 told news outlets that Friedrich Trump left Germany without deregistering or completing his mandatory military service. As a result, when he tried to return to his home country in 1905, Friedrich Trump was ordered to leave the country or be deported, reported CNN, The Guardian and Politico.

Friedrich Trump came to the U.S. when Northern European immigrants were largely welcomed, and he later became a U.S. citizen, The Washington Post reported.

Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was born in the U.S., according to news reports, his New York Times obituary, and his son’s book. Washington Post columnist Philip Bump shared a picture of Fred Trump’s birth certificate that showed his parents had a Bronx, New York, address when he was born.

Donald Trump’s mother, Mary Trump, was born in Scotland, according to news reports, her New York Times obituary and her son’s public remarks.

Blair said that in the 1930s, leading up to World War II, Fred Trump, a New York City real estate developer, "began to say he had a Swedish background."

In September 1990, Vanity Fair reported that Fred Trump hid his German background because most of his tenants were Jewish. 

Trump’s father died June 25, 1999. In his obituary, The New York Times reported that, until the 1980s, Fred Trump told "friends and acquaintances that he was of Swedish origin, although both his parents were born in Germany." 

"He had a lot of Jewish tenants and it wasn't a good thing to be German in those days," said John Walter, Donald Trump’s cousin and the family’s historian, according to The New York Times. 

"The Swedish background story, which Donald repeated in ‘The Art of the Deal,’ published in 1987, continued until about 1990," Blair said.

In a 2016 article, The New York Times quoted Walter saying that when Donald Trump was working on his book, he "questioned the need" to say his grandfather came from Sweden. "Do I have to do this Swedish thing?" Trump asked his father, according to Walter’s account. 

Trump told The Boston Globe in 2016 that his father had spent time in Sweden and talked about being Swedish because "our country was at war with Germany," and "being from Germany didn’t necessarily play so well for a period of time."

The Globe reported that the Swedish heritage claim "had been abandoned" by 2000, citing Donald Trump’s book "The America We Deserve," which was published that year. 

We used Google Books to search "The America We Deserve" for "German" and "Germany" and found passages that said Friedrich Trump was born in Germany.

"My grandfather was German," read one Google Books excerpt. Another, which the Globe also reported, said Friedrich Trump "came here from Germany as a child."

(Screenshot from Google Books)

Trump has mentioned his German and Scottish roots on numerous occasions. At least twice, he was recognized for his family’s German background.

In 1986, Trump was awarded an Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his "​​professional contributions that benefited New York City as a developer, as well as for his German heritage," an Ellis Island Honors Society spokesperson told PolitiFact in 2019. In 1999, Trump served as the grand marshal of the German-American Steuben Parade in New York City, according to the parade website. 

More than once, Trump inaccurately claimed his father was born in Germany. In 2019, we rated that claim Pants on Fire!

Here’s a collection of some of Trump’s comments about his parents over the years: 

• In the 2010 documentary "All-American Billionaire," Trump said, "My mother was born in Scotland, in the Hebrides, in Stornoway, so that’s serious Scotland. And she was a great woman."

• In 2011, Trump filmed a video message for the annual Steuben Parade. "My grandfather Friedrich Trump came to the United States in 1885," he said. "In 1999, I was the grand marshal of the German-American Steuben Parade and I really enjoyed that day. … I’m a proud German-American. Enjoy the parade, and I’ll be watching you from Trump Tower."

• In January 2018 on "Good Morning Britain," Trump said, "My mother was born in Scotland, in the Hebrides."

• In July 2018 on "CBS Evening News," Trump said, "Don’t forget, both my parents were born in EU sectors, OK? I mean, my mother was Scotland; my father was Germany."

• At the White House in April 2019, Trump said, "My father is German, right? Was German. And born in a very wonderful place in Germany, and so I have a great feeling for Germany." (Again, his father was born in the United States.)

• On "Piers Morgan Uncensored," in April 2022, Trump said, "My mother was born in Scotland." 

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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