2024 Election

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…

Was President Donald Trump's son Barron drafted into the military as of June 30, 2025? No, that's not true: According to the Selective Service website, the United States hasn't drafted anyone for more than half a century, as of this writing. Footage presented as a report by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, on the supposed drafting, was fake. The claim originated in…

Did Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly announce his resignation from office as of June 23, 2025? No, that's not true: As of this writing, no such dispatches appeared on websites of credible news outlets. The website of the Iranian president made no such public announcement. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June 22, 2025.…

Were the Minnesota shootings targeting state lawmakers and their family members motivated by leftist political views of the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter? While many details remain unclear as of June16, 2025, available evidence doesn't support this theory. Here is what we know about Boelter's political affiliation. A rumor about Boelter's left-leaning views appeared in a post (archived here) on X,…

Did The Economic Times article that declared Kamala Harris won the 2024 election cite reports that concluded voting systems were rigged for Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The reports referred to by The Economic Times all stop short of declaring the election was stolen. Instead, those writers whom The Economic Times cited said there are questions about software and…

Was the latest book by Kamala Harris yanked from the shelves after it was found to be 30% plagiarized? No, that's not true: The former vice president has authored three books as of June 2025, including the last two published in 2019. Each of those books is still available for purchase online and in bookstores. Her first book, which was…

Was pro-Trump Cuban activist Hector Luis Valdes Cocho detained by ICE and held for possible deportation from the United States? Yes, that's true: Valdes Cocho, who was exiled from Cuba to the U.S. in 2022 because of his political activism, was initially arrested in November 2024, on state fraud and traffic charges in Florida. ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)…

Did a legitimate news report reveal the Kamala Harris presidential campaign was making an illegal $200,000 payment for travel expenses to music mogul Beyoncé for appearing at a campaign rally in 2024? No, that's not true: A satire site created that story to trick conservatives into sharing it as real. Campaign finance documents on file show no such payment to…

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor is set to start on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. It is a centuries-old ceremony entrenched in secrecy and powerful rituals, which strikes the world's imagination. This year, 135 cardinals from 71 countries across the five continents (of which Pope Francis has appointed 108, and 12 come from countries that never had a cardinal…

Did former Vice President Kamala Harris declare in April 2025 that she intended to run for president in 2028? No, that's not true: A supposed screenshot of an X post by Harris was fake. It came after Harris made her first major speech since her defeat to President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. The declaration of intent appeared…