2000 Mules

The year is almost over, so it is good to look back. First, the numbers, as of December 15, 2022. This year we have published 1,555 fact checks in English (so far ...) 283 fact checks about COVID misinformation; 244 debunks of Russian propaganda and false claims about the invasion of Ukraine; 140 debunks of false claims about election fraud,…

Did a Republican poll watcher in Arizona have access to voter check-in information where she claims to have seen evidence that 200 extra ballots were counted? No, that's not true: The Maricopa County Elections Department told Lead Stories that "[p]olitical [p]arty observers do not have access to voter check-in data," plus "there are processes in place every election to reconcile…

Does GPS data from voters' cellphones help election fraudsters identify those who were registered but did not vote so the fraudsters can cast illegal ballots in the name of those people? Should voters avoid bringing cellphones to polling places on Election Day for this reason? No, that's not true: Election workers most commonly rely on voters' signatures to verify absentee…

Did the U.S. military arrest members of Congress at the White House? No, that's not true: This did not happen, and the video making the claim seemingly used the title for clickbait. The claim appeared in a video posted to Facebook published on June 9, 2022. The title of the video is: 𝐔𝐒𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒…

Is geotracking the only evidence being used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to place January 6, 2021, defendants inside the U.S. Capitol? No, that's not true: FBI investigators and the DOJ are using the tracking data, along with Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth beacons that interacted with phones and security cameras to confirm people were inside the building during the…

Did a Yuma County, Arizona, woman plead guilty to a role in a sophisticated ballot trafficking ring that supposedly stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Guillermina Fuentes did plead guilty on June 2, 2022, to "one count of Ballot Abuse, a Class 6 Felony, for her role in an August 2020 Primary Election 'ballot…

Did the military arrest the current White House deputy chief of staff, Jennifer Brigid O'Malley Dillon? No, that's not true: Lead Stories received an email from a duty officer at the Pentagon who told us the claim was not true. The claim was published by Real Raw News, a site known for writing false claims about public figures. Real Raw…

Is there proof of law enforcement raids on multiple Arizona nonprofit organizations in a "2000 Mules"-driven ballot trafficking investigation? No, there's no evidence that's true: Reporting by The Arizona Republic puts two uniformed officers and two plainclothes investigators from the Arizona attorney general's office at the office of just one nonprofit: Comité de Bien Estar in San Luis in May…

Does the movie "2000 Mules" prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen by voter fraud? No, that's not true: The film's producers promote a theory that 2,000 people in five key swing states collected and delivered hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots on behalf of a "cartel" to throw the election in favor of Joe Biden. The cellphone geotracking data…

Did former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy say he saw the movie "2000 Mules" at Mar-a-Lago and that he "always believed that rampant cheating occurred" in the 2020 election? No, that's not true: The Republican from South Carolina told Lead Stories both claims are "100 percent false." The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) by the account Trey Gowdy…