A strange hand gesture turned an otherwise routine White House signing into an internet mystery. Social media users quickly built a bizarre theory around the woman standing beside President Donald Trump, but she has now offered a much simpler explanation.
The viral moment had a very ordinary explanation
Jayme Leagh Franklin found herself at the center of the online frenzy after footage from the Oval Office spread across X. The video showed Franklin standing between Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while Trump signed an executive order concerning federal childhood vaccination recommendations.
She repeatedly nodded and kept a hand near her stomach, prompting those online to claim she was secretly using a device to shock Trump and wake him up. The netizens dubbed her “The Zapper.” Later, Franklin quickly addressed the speculation herself. Responding to one of the posts circulating the theory on X, she wrote, “I’m just pregnant you weirdos.”
The video was recorded Monday at the Oval Office, where Trump signed an executive order seeking to change federal guidance on childhood vaccines. The order backs his long-held view that routine shots should be spread across several visits. Afterward, Franklin wrote on X that she was honored “to join President Trump in the Oval Office.”
Franklin also has ties to Trump’s political world. Newsweek describes her as a former Trump administration staffer and the founder and CEO of The Conservateur, a conservative media and lifestyle brand covering politics, culture, faith, fashion, beauty and femininity. The Conservateur also presents itself as a media and lifestyle brand mainly for young conservative Christian women. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2020.
Franklin’s political background goes beyond the Trump administration. She interned in the U.S. Senate in 2019 and later worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign before becoming his director of correspondence during his first term.
