Is there evidence that Erika Kirk was a recruiter for Jeffrey Epstein or that she had her husband, Charlie Kirk, killed to shut him up about it? No, that's not true: The claim appears to be based on another false claim that Erika Kirk operated a charity in Romania that was used for trafficking orphaned children internationally. Lead Stories previously…
Is there any evidence that Charlie Kirk's widow Erika Kirk's "Romanian Angels" or "Everyday Heroes like You" ministries were accused of "snatching children only to send them straight into sex and organ trafficking networks in the United Kingdom and Israel? No, that's not true: A review of Romanian court records and media reports by Lead Stories' Romanian staff found only…
Does a viral video show the incident where two Venezuelan F-16s flew near an American warship on September 4, 2025? No, that's not true: The video clip in question has been online since August 30, 2025. This is before both the U.S. airstrike on a boat on September 2, 2025 and reports of two Venezuelan F-16 jets flying near the…
Did retired Gen. Mark Milley tell troops being deployed to U.S. cities in August of 2025 that they "do not report to a dictator", as posts on social media claim? No, that's not true: Milley's remarks were made in September of 2023, almost two years before President Donald Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Milley,…
Does a widely-shared video prove that U.S. military tanks patrolled the streets of Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2025? No, that's not true: The person who recorded it told Lead Stories that the 10-second clip showed an armored vehicle that was in the nation's capital to participate in a military parade on June 14, 2025. That account was consistent with…
Did a photo of troops sleeping on a floor, shared amid President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in California in June 2025, in fact date to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021? No, that's not true: the AI chatbot ChatGPT made a mistake in identifying the photo as having first been published on a U.S. military website…
Does a video show China air-dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza in May 2025? No, that's not true: The video is from March 2024, when U.S. military planes dropped food and supplies onto a beach in Beit Lahiya, Gaza. Other videos posted at the time show the same scene, and news reports documented the event. There is no evidence that China…
Did online posts accurately show a woman dancing with a "Trump 2024" flag, then being deported? No, that's not true: The posts combined two clips that showed entirely different people. The first was Lenette Saunders, who posted "Latinos celebrating Papi Trump's victory" in November 2024. The second woman was Alejandra Juarez, who was deported in 2018. The claim appeared in…
Was the service history of Colonel Ruby Bradley, an American nurse captured in the Philippines during World War II, removed from official military websites on orders of U.S. President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or DOGE? As of this writing, some pages describing her life were still available on government online resources. Yet, in at least two instances, those…
Did the Taliban return Bagram Air Base base in Afghanistan to the United States? No, that's not true: On April 8, 2025, the Pentagon refuted the claim, replying to Lead Stories' questions. Two AI detectors found a significant presence of generative AI in an article that started the rumor. The claim originated from a story published on Medium on April…
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