Did U.S. President Donald Trump threaten a 250% tariff on Norwegian salmon because "Norway is about to win the most golds" at the Winter Olympics? No, that's not true: The viral image of his supposed Truth Social post is not real. Lead Stories searched his account and news reports, but found no confirmation that he wrote what some on social…
Does a viral image show a real post by President Trump in which he speaks about Jane Goodall, her family and various apes? No, that's not true: The fake image appeared after there was controversy over a post Trump did make in which Barack and Michelle Obama were shown as apes. However, the "Goodall" post did not appear on Trump's…
Did the White House post an alert that all flights were grounded, airspace was restricted and the National Guard had been activated on Feb. 6, 2026? No, that's not true: Nothing on the White House website, the FAA alert history or in real news reporting shows any such actions were taken. The hoax has circulated through traffic farming accounts and…
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…
Does the size difference between two bars in a White House chart of U.S. steel production show the actual rate of growth from 2024 to 2025? No, that's not true: The bar representing 2025 is twice the size of the 2024 bar, which visually suggests a 100% increase. That's the result of what statisticians call a "truncated axis" that tends…
Did Karoline Leavitt say the Melania Trump movie sold more tickets than Star Wars? No, that's not true: The creator of the post stated that they made it up as satire. The White House press secretary did not say the movie about President Donald Trump's wife sold more tickets than Star Wars. The claim appeared as a February 1, 2026,…
Did U.S. President Donald Trump write on Truth Social that the documentary about his wife, Melania, will become mandatory in history classes, while calling her "Melanie"? No, that's not true: No such post could be found on his account. Lead Stories searched an archive of Trump's posts, which did not produce any evidence that the viral image showed a real…
Did U.S. President Donald Trump call the 'mother of all deals' trade agreement between India and the EU. a 'high school science project' on Truth Social? No, that's not true: A viral image with those words did not show an actual social media post by President Trump. It had a satire disclaimer near the bottom and was initially published by…
Does a high resolution image of the scuffle between immigration officers and Alex Pretti provide a more clear picture of what happened just before Pretti was shot? No, that's not true: This AI-enhanced image was created from an extremely blurry still taken from a video. AI-hallucinated flaws appear as crisp visual details where the original image was indistinct. The resulting…
Did either Karoline Leavitt, Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg, or Joy Behar say that Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, or a dozen other major artists is "just a musician"? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least 16 different entertainers in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan pages aimed at American and European…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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