In early December 2025, rumors spread online that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a statement regarding dual citizenship in the United States.
Social media users on platforms like Threads (archived), X (archived) and Facebook (archived) shared the rumor, which suggested Leavitt said, “You’re either a U.S. citizen or not. You can’t be a U.S. citizen and a citizen of another country.”
Some users criticized the purported statement, pointing out that First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron have dual citizenship in the U.S. and Slovenia.
There is no evidence that Leavitt made such a statement publicly.
A search for the alleged phrase on Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing and Yahoo revealed no credible news outlets reporting on the comment and only turned up more social media posts quoting the alleged statement without providing a source.
A review of White House press briefings in December 2025 revealed no such statement from Leavitt. Snopes reached out to the White House press office for comment on the alleged statement and will update this article if we hear back. Until such time, we have opted not to give this claim a rating.
The purported quote may have been inspired by a bill, titled, the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025,” which Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio introduced in December 2025.
In a statement released on his website, Moreno said of the bill, “It was an honor to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and ONLY to the United States of America! Being an American citizen is an honor and a privilege—and if you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing. It’s time to end dual citizenship for good.”
According to Newsweek, Moreno “was born in Colombia but has renounced his Colombian citizenship.”
The statement purportedly attributed to Leavitt appeared designed to imply the Trump administration directly endorsed the bill. There was no evidence Leavitt or the White House commented on the bill specifically as of this writing, although Trump endorsed Moreno in his 2024 bid for the Senate, and the administration’s hardline stance on immigration in general could be perceived as alignment with Moreno’s bill, which made the alleged statement believable for some users.
The bill proposed that persons holding dual citizenships in the U.S. and another country must either “submit to the Secretary of State a written renunciation of such foreign citizenship” or “submit to the Secretary of Homeland Security a written renunciation of United States citizenship” no later than a year following the enactment of the proposed bill, should it pass.
According to its definition in current U.S immigration law, “The term ‘national of the United States’ means (A) a citizen of the United States, or (B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States.” A Department of State web page about dual nationality clarified, “Therefore, U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals.”
The Department of State web page also read, “U.S. law does not require a U.S. citizen to choose between U.S. citizenship and another (foreign) nationality (or nationalities). A U.S. citizen may naturalize in a foreign state without any risk to their U.S. citizenship.”
Sources
– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bsXYw_dE8U. Accessed 4 Dec. 2025.
8 USC 1101: Definitions. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1101%20edition:prelim). Accessed 4 Dec. 2025.
“Citizenship Requirements to Change for Millions of Americans under New Bill.” Newsweek, 2 Dec. 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/dual-citizenship-requirements-millions-americans-new-bill-moreno-11139538.
“Exclusive: Melania Trump’s Immigration Lawyer Responds to New Citizenship Bill.” Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/melania-trump-immigration-lawyer-response-new-citizenship-bill-11147641.
Kasler, Karen. “Trump-Endorsed Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno Wins Ohio’s GOP Primary.” NPR, 19 Mar. 2024. Elections. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/03/19/1239554686/trump-bernie-moreno-wins-ohio-gop-primary.
Moreno, Bernie. Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025. https://www.moreno.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Exclusive-Citizenship-Act-of-2025.pdf.
“New Moreno Bill to Outlaw Dual Citizenship.” Senator Bernie Moreno, https://www.moreno.senate.gov/press-releases/new-moreno-bill-to-outlaw-dual-citizenship/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2025.
