&Quot;2020 Election&Quot;

Did the United States have an election with 133 million registered voters in which 159 million votes were cast? No, that's not true: Official government figures for national elections do not support that claim. More than 158 million Americans cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election, but more than 168 million were registered to vote. The claim appeared in a…

Did Donald Trump really post a video on Truth Social featuring the faces of Michelle and Barack Obama superimposed on the bodies of apes? Yes, that is true: Shortly before midnight on Feb. 5, 2026 Donald Trump posted a 1-minute, 2-second video from the PatriotNewsOutlet.com. The video promoted a debunked conspiracy claim about voting machines during the 2020 election. The…

Are 315,000 unsigned early votes in Fulton County, Georgia proof of electoral fraud? No, that's not true: The Georgia secretary of state told Lead Stories that the missing signatures on tabulator results were the consequence of a clerical error and did not invalidate legally cast votes. An election expert told Lead Stories that the minor administrative error did not affect…

Has Tina Peters been "fully pardoned" by Donald Trump, wiping out her prison sentence for giving unauthorized access to Mesa County, Colorado, voting machines in 2021, when she was county clerk? No, that's not true: Trump's "pardon" of Peters is only symbolic, not official. The U.S. Constitution grants the President power to pardon only those criminals facing federal charges. Peters,…

Did Democratic nominee and then-sitting Vice President Kamala Harris get 68 million votes in 2024? No, that's not true: In reality, she got more than 75 million, according to data on the Federal Election Commission website. That's fewer than Joe Biden's 2020 total of 81 million, but 7 million more than is claimed by a viral meme. The claim appeared…

Did JD Vance's sister take to social media to ask internet trolls to stop saying the Vice President killed Pope Francis? No, that's not true: The video is one of a series by comedian Blaire Erskine in which she has played roles such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's baby sitter and a Trump voter waiting in the cold for a…

Did Donald Trump admit in an Oval Office ceremony on March 7, 2025, that the 2024 election was rigged so that he could become president again? No, that's not true: President Trump was claiming the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden was rigged, not the 2024 election. If he had won in 2020, he would not be president when…

Did a rumor about Kash Patel ordering a SWAT raid on three Pentagon officials, and the existence of surveillance footage capturing a four-star general shredding documents, originate with reliable news sources? No, that's not true: The story originated in a TikTok video that did not offer any sources or evidence. Neither Patel's X accounts nor news websites indexed by Google…

Does a video show President-elect Donald Trump supporting Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore after his arrest on January 16, 2025? No, that's not true: The video where Trump praises Moore was originally posted on Trump's official Facebook account in late August 2023, predating Moore's arrest by nearly six months. It has nothing to do with Moore's arrest in January 2025.…

Were there 15 million, 18 million or even 20 million fewer votes in 2024 versus the election numbers from 2020, disproving reports of record turnout or implying cheating in vote totals? No, that's not true: As of November 7, 2024, final vote numbers had not been reported in any state. An election expert told Lead Stories that count would take…