Was there a coup at the Pentagon? Were the Joint Chiefs of Staff overthrown? No, that's not true: A Pentagon spokesperson denied the claim, which was based on a single purported "confidential" source. The story was published by a website known for printing unsubstantiated and false allegations, many of which Lead Stories has debunked before. The claims appeared in an…

Did Pepsi sell more products than Coca-Cola during the April, 2021 boycott declared by conservatives to punish the company for criticizing Georgia's new voting restrictions? Did Delta cancel 100 flights because of the boycotts? No, that's not true: according to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's first quarter earnings reports, Coca-Cola earned almost $600 million more than PepsiCo in the first quarter. Delta…

By Dana Ford and Maarten Schenk Does "new evidence" on voting systems in Antrim County, Michigan, give a full and complete picture of how tabulation machines and software work? No, that's not true: The evidence, which consists of a video showing that it is theoretically possible to swap votes, is missing important information. It ignores the safeguards in place to…

Did President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden put former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter at risk by not wearing masks inside the Carters' home? No, that's not true: Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention generally recommends wearing face coverings for maximum protection against COVID-19, fully vaccinated individuals like the Carters and the…

Did an Instagram influencer shout an expletive at Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after Fauci told the influencer to lift up his mask at an airport? No, that's not true: the claim was made in a fake tweet and there is no evidence that Fauci has been to any airport since the…

Did winning Kentucky Derby jockey John Velazquez turn down a White House invitation, saying he didn't want to see "a horse's ass"? No, that's not true: The quote is fake. Calling the purported quote "ridiculous," Velazquez's agent told Lead Stories the jockey is unfailingly polite. "He wouldn't say anything derogatory about a fly. It's just not him," said Ron Anderson,…

Does a 10-second video clip show President Joe Biden "again" inappropriately kissing a young boy? No, that's not true: The clip, from 2015, shows Joe Biden comforting his grandson, Robert Hunter Biden, at the funeral of the child's father, Beau Biden. Joe Biden strokes his grandson's hair, and kisses him on the cheek and puts his hand on the boy's…

Did protesters at a governing board meeting for the Vail Unified School District in Arizona elect a new school board and legally vote for the district's mask policy to be lifted? No, that's not true: While the protestors did stage what appeared to be an impromptu election for a new school board on April 27, 2021, their election was not…

Does a video prove that "final moves against the deep state" are happening now? No, that's not true: Many of the conspiracy theories claimed in the video are false. Donald Trump is not still president or "in charge," the London 2012 Olympics did not foreshadow the coronavirus outbreak and John McCain and George H.W. Bush were not found guilty by…

During a debate, did Kamala Harris say to Joe Biden, "You will do whatever the Chinese tell you! They gave your son over a billion dollars"? No, that's not true: Kamala Harris never said this to Joe Biden during a debate. The claim seems to have first surfaced on Twitter in late January 2021 and on Facebook in April 2021.…

Is Kamala Harris' book in "welcome bags" for illegal migrant children in California? No, that's not true. The spokesperson for the city of Long Beach told Lead Stories there was one copy of the book that appeared in a widely circulated photo, but the vice president's book was not part of the welcome bags. The claim appeared in an article…

Was Hillary Clinton hanged at Guantanamo Bay on April 26, 2021? No, that's not true: The claim is the latest in a series of false claims about Clinton that have appeared on a website known for publishing fake news. Lead Stories has debunked prior allegations, including the claim that Clinton was arrested, that she faced a military tribunal and that…

Were a quarter of a million illegal votes found in the Arizona audit? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, April 27, 2021, no results from the audit commissioned by Republicans in the state Senate have been released. An exact release date is not known. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on April 26,…

Is Bill Gates fighting to keep the ingredients of COVID-19 vaccines secret? No, that's not true: The ingredients to each COVID-19 vaccine currently in use are not secret. They are publicly available, including on the FDA website. Gates, a billionaire philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, does not own any of the vaccine patents. The claim that he does control them…

Is President Biden cutting 90% of red meat from your diet, limiting you to four pounds a year and one burger per month? No, that's not true. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson told Lead Stories there's no such proposal. The Biden administration does not have a new climate requirement that would limit the amount of red meat Americans can…

Is the audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, confirming the rumor that a "special watermark is on the real ballots"? No, there's no evidence that's true: Maricopa County ballots do not have watermarks, according to a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Elections Department. Claims of such watermarks are related to a previously debunked conspiracy theory that some entity -- perhaps the…

Did the military arrest former FBI Director James Comey? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the office of the secretary of defense said no such arrest happened. An article making the claim relies on a purported unnamed source and appears on a website that's known for publishing false allegations. Lead Stories could find no credible confirmation of the story…

Did a military drone launched by the "Deep State" target a building near Trump adviser Roger Stone's office in Florida? No, that's not true: The explosion and subsequent fire began with a leaking liquid petroleum tank inside a Styrofoam manufacturing facility on April 20, 2021, according to the local fire chief. The video appeared in a Parler post (archived here)…

Do two photos of Palm Beach, in New South Wales, Australia, purportedly taken almost a century apart, prove there has been no change in the sea level and that climate change is a hoax? No, that's not true: An overall change in sea level over the course of a century can not be measured by comparing two photos and Australia's…

Did Dominion have 70 attorneys in Arizona in April of 2021, trying to stop the audit of ballots from the 2020 election? No, that's not true: A post making the claim offered no sourcing to support it, and a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems said the company had no such team. "Dominion does not have a team of attorneys in…