The White House confirmed Trump was in Florida golfing the day of the dignified transfer. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended the event on behalf of the Trump administration. Presidents sometimes attend dignified transfers, sometimes not. They are not considered obligatory.

In early April 2025, two months into U.S. President Donald Trump's second presidential term, a rumor began to spread that he did not attend the solemn dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers killed in Lithuania and was at his Florida golf club when it occurred.

That post had received 2.9 million views and 98,000 likes as of this writing. Meanwhile, during a segment on her show, left-leaning MSNBC host Rachel Maddow made the same claim about Trump, sharing images of a ceremony for the four U.S. soldiers in Vilnius, Lithuania, and also of Biden attending a dignified transfer of different soldiers' remains in February 2024. Those soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Jordan.

The claim that Trump was at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, during the April 2025 dignified transfer of soldiers' remains was true. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended the event on behalf of the Trump administration.

On March 25, 2025, in Lithuania, four soldiers died after their vehicle sank into a bog near the border with Belarus. When the remains of fallen U.S. soldiers return to the U.S., they arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. They are then transferred to vans that take them to a mortuary facility. This process is known as a dignified transfer . Often, though not always, sitting presidents attend such events to pay respects to the fallen soldiers and their families. The ceremonies are not considered obligatory.

Email exchanges with the U.S. Department of Defense, the White House and a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware confirmed the dignified transfer for the four soldiers occurred on April 4, Trump was in Florida golfing that day and Hegseth attended the dignified transfer alongside Coons and other senators. It was unclear whether Trump was playing golf at the exact moment the event occurred.

The spokesperson for the White House reiterated a statement press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave on April 4: " The Secretary of Defense will represent the Administration at the dignified transfer for the four brave U.S. servicemembers who tragically died during a training exercise in Lithuania." The spokesperson added the families requested no media attend the transfer and "the White House is requesting their respect for privacy today and has been working on correspondence to the families."

A review of Trump's public schedule revealed on Friday, April 4, he was at the International Golf Club of West Palm Beach from 9:45 a.m. to 3:28 p.m., at which point he returned to Mar-a-Lago seven minutes away. Meanwhile, a review of Hegseth's public schedule on the same day showed he traveled to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base midmorning to attend the dignified transfer.

According to The Hill, Coons was not the only Democratic U.S. senator scheduled to attend the event. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, both from Illinois, were reportedly set to participate as well. We have contacted both offices asking for confirmation of their attendance and will update this report should they respond.

There was no evidence Biden and his wife Jill Biden attended the event. Rather, that rumor may have stemmed from the fact that various reports, including Maddow's, used images of the last dignified transfer covered by the media on Feb. 2, 2024, at which the Bidens were present.