Did Court Security Guard Flash Secret Sign at Trump Jr.? What We Know

Former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial attracted plenty of attention this week, with sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. testifying in New York

Donald Trump Jr. testified Wednesday and denied knowing about the widespread accounting fraud that inflated the Trump Organization's property valuations, saying, "That's what CPAs are for."

As co-defendant and brother Eric Trump faced the court Thursday, internet sleuths noticed one curious detail from footage surrounding the event.

A video of Trump Jr. entering the courthouse on Wednesday showed what appeared to be a security officer making a three-finger gesture as the former president's son made his way up the stairs.

A post on X, formerly Twitter, on November 1, 2023, by user @kjb463, viewed one million times, included a copy of the video, adding: "What the hell is this sign? Watch the officer! OMG!"

Lasting a couple seconds, the movement was enough to capture the attention of multiple commentators online, including Trump's estranged niece, Mary Trump, who has been vocal in her disapproval of her uncle, mocking him throughout the trial.

"What do you notice about this cop when Donald Trump Jr. enters to testify against Daddy?" she wrote, adding in a follow-up tweet that she would reveal her thoughts in a newsletter.

No other evidence of the officer's intent has been shared beyond speculation online. Newsweek has reached out to a media representative for the New York Courts via email for comment.

One commentator speculated it was a "W" indicating white power.

Again, this claim and others like it were provided without evidence of the officer's intent, based entirely on similarities to right-wing symbology.

Apart from the fact that Trump has associated or been seen with white nationalists such as Nick Fuentes, and has been accused of encouraging white nationalism, covert symbols tied to racist ideologies gained notoriety while he was president.

In 2017, a White House intern denied that he posed with a questionable symbol that denoted white power, claiming he was copying the then-president.

Left-wing commentator BrooklynDad_Defiant, also initially suggested that the symbol could resemble support for Three Percenters, a right-wing anti-government militia following that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, gestures with a three-finger symbol.

In 2021, Jeopardy! contestant Kelly Donohue faced backlash after making a three-finger gesture on the show, which viewers thought was a white power sign. Donohue insisted it was to indicate the number of his wins on the show.

Trump's association with and support from white nationalists, combined with the symbology the groups have encouraged, may have catalyzed theories about what the court officer's gesture could have meant.

However, another more straightforward possibility is that it was a reference to either the courtroom or the floor of the court the trial was in.

The trial has been in Room 300 of the New York Supreme Court, on the building's third floor. Although theories about secretive symbology are interesting, the likelihood that he was simply giving directions seems more plausible.

The guard does not appear to be gesturing toward Trump Jr. directly, and, as wider shots of the video show, may instead be communicating with other court officers at the bottom of the stairs before the entrance.

It has not been revealed who the officer in the video is, let alone their political beliefs.

Newsweek has reached out to a media representative for the Trump Organization via email for comment.