Trump and the First Lady Sign the Take It Down Act, May 19, 2025
May 19, 2025 · The White House · 0:15:46
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What happened
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump signed the Take It Down Act in the Rose Garden on May 19, 2025, carried on the White House channel. The First Lady opened the ceremony: “It’s an honor to join you here today for the signing of the Take It Down Act, a national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation,” she said, describing the law as a step “to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through nonconsensual, intimate imagery” and AI-generated imagery, as she stated the law’s purpose. “As First Lady, my Be Best initiative is focused on improving children’s well-being, encouraging kindness and creating a safer online environment for our youth. Today, I’m proud to say that the values of Be Best will be reflected in the law of the land,” she said, thanking Speaker Johnson, Senators Cruz and Klobuchar, and Representatives Salazar, Dean, and Gottheimer, as she named the bill’s congressional champions, and looking to the Federal Trade Commission and the private sector to do their part.
The President reported his call with President Putin from earlier that day — “We just spent two and a half hours talking to Vladimir Putin, and I think some progress has been made. It’s a terrible situation going on over there. Five thousand young people every single week are being killed,” as he stated the call’s length and toll — congratulated the First Lady on securing $25 million in the fiscal 2026 budget for housing and support for youth aging out of foster care, as he stated the figure, and then signed the bill: “Okay, there we have it. There we are. That’s a big one,” he said.
Why it matters
This Rose Garden signing enacts the First Lady’s signature bill: the Be Best agenda written into law against nonconsensual and AI-generated intimate imagery, with the enforcement handoff to the FTC stated by the First Lady herself — paired with the President’s same-day Putin readout.
Scoreboard candidate
Scoreboard candidate: the May 19, 2025 signing of the Take It Down Act, the First Lady-sponsored legislation against nonconsensual intimate imagery — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.
Sources: The White House, “President Trump and the First Lady Participate in a Bill Signing, May 19, 2025” (official upload, embedded above). White House clips of the same signing (Pl571KWOq3w, BPxOUIiHmjk) are recorded as alternates in the index. All characterizations as stated by the President and by the First Lady.
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