Mary Trump’s claim in her book that President Donald Trump paid his friend Joe Shapiro to take his SATs conflicts with specific timelines, according to Shapiro’s widow, Pam Shriver.
"My late husband Joe Shapiro passed away 21 years ago. He was a man of great integrity, honesty; he was a hard worker. He was literally the smartest person I ever met," Shriver said in a video posted to her Twitter account.
"He went to University of Pennsylvania, member of the class of 1968. It was while he was at University of Pennsylvania where he met Donald Trump. They became friends; they loved the sport of golf. They shared the same hometown of New York City; they shared the same campus. They stayed in a little bit of touch through the years.
"But obviously Joe's not here to defend himself and say what happened, but I just want to recollect what he told me about where he met Mr. Trump. And I want to thank all of Joe's close friends and his sister Beth for our talks in the past 24 hours about what an upstanding, outstanding man Joe Shapiro was."
The White House called the claim “completely false.”
Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s niece, in her forthcoming book accused the president of being a sociopath and charged that his “hubris and willful ignorance” are a threat to the country.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.