Epstein Island

False claims about the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Jeffrey Epstein files, and purported verbal gaffes by President Trump topped the list of most-read Lead Stories fact checks in 2025. Here are our most read fact checks of the past year, reflecting our reader's interest in finding out the truth about various viral stories. If you see something suspicious in 2026,…

Is Rob Reiner's name on the "Epstein List"? No, that's not true: An image that lists 165 celebrities and politicians, including Reiner, who purportedly visited "Epstein Island" is fake. The actual Epstein flight logs obtained by Lead Stories and the archive of Jeffrey Epstein emails and text messages released by a congressional committee contain no references to Reiner. There is…

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…

Has Ghislaine Maxwell been cleared to leave prison on work release? Here is what we know: On August 1, 2025 the federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to Lead Stories that Maxwell had been moved to the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security all women facility. On August 11, 2025 podcaster Allison Gill published an article based on an…

Did Donald Trump post on Truth Social that he was never on Jeffrey Epstein's plane or his "stupid" Island? Yes, that's true: Trump's Truth Social timeline still displays the message shared on January 9, 2024. Some X users insisted Trump never made the statement, including the author of a proposed community note. The true claim that Trump posted the message…

Did the U.S. Justice Department just release the 1998-2004 flight logs for Jeffrey Epstein's Boeing 727? No, that's not true: We've had then since early 2015 and have embedded copies of the flight logs in several Lead Stories fact checks. This reporter investigated allegations of Epstein's abuse of young females as a national correspondent for American Media Inc. in January…

Did former President Bill Clinton put out a video in anticipation of the release of the "Epstein Client List" in which he said "I did not have sexual relations with those children on that island"? No, that's not true: The video bore a watermark that said "meme/satire" which was visible the entire length of the footage. It was orignally published…

Was Donald Trump caught on tape during a Fox News commercial break, saying that someone who is called into war is a "dumbfuck redneck" and that volunteering for military service is "stupid"? No, that's not true: This recording is fake -- it originated from a parody account. It appears that a human voice actor impersonated Donald Trump in this recording,…

Did the Walt Disney Company buy Jeffrey Epstein's island? No, that's not true: The social media post showed the website that made the claim, which is a site that clearly states they are "the world's best satire and parody site." They explain that their stories are made up, stating, "We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff." The claim appeared…

Did Mel Gibson release a video of satanic rituals taking place on "Jeffrey Epstein's island"? No, that's not true: "He has nothing to do with this and has no knowledge of it," Gibson's publicist told Lead Stories about a social media post making this claim. There is no evidence given in the post that such a video even exists. The…