Is the letter in which convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein told another convicted sex offender, Larry Nassar, that "our president shares our love of young, nubile girls" real? No, that's not true: The Department of Justice, which published the letter as part of the Epstein file release, later referred to the letter as "fake." The agency said it relied on…
Did Zohran Mamdani, Melania Trump, Sen. John Kennedy or other prominent Americans go live with a 3 a.m. emergency monologue claiming they were under threat for secrets they were about to expose about President Donald Trump or former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a…
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 Barack Obama, Donald Trump or Marco Rubio "just cut the ribbon on a $150 million free education and health campus, entirely funded "by his own pocket", without a single tax dollar."? No, none of them did: The made-up stories are among dozens cranked out by Vietnam-based publishers building traffic on Facebook with stories attractive to fans of Obama, Trump…
Did House Democrats release photos showing Jeffrey Epstein with a girl in a green skirt who also appears bound and gagged in another image? No, that's not true: These images have both been digitally edited. The original image of Epstein from 2005 showed him posing with Ghislaine Maxwell. It has been in the Getty Images library since 2016. The image…
Did Donald Trump announce that people who had cosmetic surgeries would no longer be eligible for any form of government assistance starting in March 2026? No, that's not true:There were no news stories about any such announcement from Trump, despite claims in a viral video. Neither the White House nor Trump's social media accounts showed anything looking like such an…
Did Pete Buttigieg stand at the podium at a public town hall meeting with Joe Biden joining by live feed, and announce he's running for President in 2028? No, that's not true: At the time the rumor was posted, no news outlets had carried the story of such an announcement by the former Secretary of Transportation. There were no news…
Did Germany introduce an automated system which will return lost items to the owner and protect their privacy at the same time? No, that's not true: The picture on social media features an AI generated image of several automated kiosks installed on a public sidewalk. The post originated from a page that is mass producing stories of urban infrastructure innovations…
Is a high-end Seattle store called "Matthew's Haberdashery" moving to Charlotte, North Carolina and selling Seattle-made men's clothes at a discount in a moving sale? No, that's not true: the store never existed, and the website and Facebook page appeared just 39 days before the moving sale was underway. Lead Stories easily found the exact photos from the Matthew's website…
Did former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg open "America's first 100% free homeless hospital"? No, that's not true: The picture purporting to show the opening ceremony was AI generated. No credible news organizations published any reports about it. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook, where it was published on November 23, 2025. PETE BUTTIGIEG JUST…
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