Did a laboratory analysis commissioned by a German children's charity find bacteria and mold on a mask? Yes, that is true, but it does not mean these microorganisms are harmful or abnormal. According to experts, it is likely that the bacteria found on the mask are just the regular bacteria found on the skin and in the mouth. Without further…

Did Nevada voter Christina Gupana "disappear"? Is the "Louder With Crowder" show correct in saying her vote in the 2020 general election was fraudulent? No, that's not true: Lead Stories located Gupana and spoke to her on several occasions. She is registered to vote in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her listed address, 353 East Bonneville Avenue, Unit 435, was her address…

Has the Dr. Seuss book, "The Cat In The Hat," been "canceled"? No, that's not true: "The Cat In The Hat" is not among the six titles Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced March 2, 2021, that it would no longer publish because some portrayals of people in the books were "hurtful and wrong." The company owns the rights to Dr. Seuss…

Will Donald Trump be inaugurated on March 4, 2021? No, that's not true: The "five pieces of evidence" held up to support such a claim have been debunked before or are speculative, assigning significance to otherwise neutral facts. Joe Biden is president of the United States, has been since January 20, 2021, and all publicly available evidence confirms that he…

Has President Joe Biden "killed" Dr. Seuss, as six Seuss books will no longer be published? No, that's not true: the publisher of the books, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, says it decided last year, in conjunction with a panel of experts, to stop publishing six Seuss titles that included "hurtful" portrayals of people. The claim appeared in a post (archived here),…

Is Donald Trump in control of the military? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, March 2, 2021, Joe Biden is commander in chief, a position he assumed when he was sworn in as president of the United States on January 20, 2021 on the nation's tv system. This claim's argument that Trump is in control relies on…

Did Jerry Nadler say "God has no authority in the House of Representatives"? No, that's not true: Video from the debate during which the New York representative supposedly said that shows he didn't utter the phrase. Lead Stories rates the claim false because, regardless of meaning, the claim is at odds with the publicly available transcript and recording, which clearly…

Is a "Louder with Crowder" video that shows vacant lots at voter addresses in Nevada and Michigan proof of voter fraud? No, that's not true: Lead Stories dug into the Nevada data and found at least two types of mistakes. In some instances, host Steven Crowder reported names and addresses that do not match Nevada voter records. In other instances,…

Is Joe Biden not the official president because soldiers at a wreath ceremony did not wear their decorations on their coats and the 21-gun salute was moved to Arlington Cemetery on January 20, 2021? No, that's not true: Biden is the official president. The service members were wearing heavy, less-decorated cold weather coats at the wreath ceremony at the Tomb…

Does "Communist China" own DreamWorks Animation? No, that's not true: In 2016, DreamWorks was acquired by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast Corporation. Both NBCUniversal and Comcast are American companies. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on February 19, 2021. The post included a brief introductory message that read: "Hey Fact Checkers, debunk this please." The post…

Did President Joe Biden send out a racist tweet regarding his comment about minorities not being able to use the internet ? No, that's not true: the viral screenshot of the supposed tweet is an obvious forgery containing way more characters than it is possible to have in a tweet and there is no online record in search engines of…

Did Joe Biden send the National Guard to Texas with food, water and temporary shelter? No, he did not: Each state's National Guard unit is under the command and control of the governor, not the president, and Governor Abbott of Texas has activated the Guard help with the extreme winter storm problems. Biden authorized "Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency…

Does the fact that Michigan is removing some 177,000 voters from its rolls after the 2020 election prove fraud? No, that's not true: The cancellations are part of routine voter registration list maintenance, according to the secretary of state's office in Michigan. The office said that the voters scheduled for cancellation "did not engage in any voting activity in at…

Did President Biden say the US didn't have a COVID-19 vaccine before he took office? No, that's not true: he said there was no supply of the vaccine in storage awaiting distribution, not that the vaccine didn't exist. The words in quotation marks in the meme are not an accurate verbatim quote and also leave out the rest of what…

Was Joe Biden silent on the 4 million people without power due to a February 2021 winter storm? No, that's not true. The president did not appear on camera to address the situation, but he made several public statements about the storm and its effects. Biden approved a disaster declaration on February 14, 2021, which was published on the official…

Are renewable energy sources the main reason for blackouts amid a deadly winter storm? No, that's not true: Renewables like wind and solar continue to produce, according to power grid officials, and are not the leading cause of the blackouts. Experts consulted by Lead Stories generally agreed that if any one source was most to blame it would be natural…

Did U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, have an unflattering "photo" of her removed from Twitter? No, that's not true: First, it's not a photo. It's a caricature that depicts the congresswoman flashing a toothy grin, revealing an overbite and ample gum line. Second, it was still on Twitter and other social media as of February 18,…

Was the United States' energy independence "sent back fifty years" in 10 days? No, that's not true: Although it's true that the country was "energy independent" in 2019 for the first time in more than 60 years, there's no evidence policy changes or anything else reversed that in the 10 days leading up to the claim, which was made February…

Did leaked visitor logs reveal Adam Schiff visited Epstein Island 78 times? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made up stories that are clearly marked as satire when you actually click them. Articles from the site are frequently copied by foreign-run fake news…

Do newly released flight logs put Joe Biden on Jeffery Epstein's "Lolita Express" jet? No, that's not true: The website that published the story is a satire website and the contents, including purported quotes, are fabricated. No new flight logs from Epstein's private plane have been released, and Joe Biden was never mentioned in any of the previously published flight…