Ice Agent

Does a Justice Department indictment document say the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and paid $300,000 to transport people there? No, that's not true, but it's complicated: The indictment states that one person did receive $300,000, but that SPLC paid that out over nine years. It also says that person "arranged…

In a real social media post, did Donald Trump write about a Joe Biden visit to Moscow in 1987 and implicate him in various conspiracy theories? No, that's not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. Biden also never visited Moscow in 1987.…

Is an "Internal Memorandum" reportedly from the White House Butler's Office about missing cutlery real? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that the memo is authentic, especially since there is no White House Butler's Office to begin with. The creator of the social media post also acknowledged that the memo was "satire" when someone responding to the…

Did President Donald Trump visit the Secret Service officer in the hospital after the officer was shot on April 25, 2026, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner? No, that's not true: The video is AI-generated, and online detection tools indicate it is fake. It contains a SynthID watermark, meaning it was created or edited using Google AI tools. There are…

Does an abstract digital image from 2021 contain a hidden image showing the famous raised fist photo from the 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa.? No, that's not true: The digital image was presented in 2026 with a transparent overlay so that both images were intermingled. It does not contain a hidden image of the 2024…

Did a real "senior coordinating producer for the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner" (WHCD) say journalists stole 147 bottles of wine? No, that's not true: The person who posted the claim is a social media content creator who labels his work as "satirical fiction." Posts on his account typically use a boastful style, as he pretends to head a variety…

Does an image of Pakistani government officials being searched by U.S. military members during Iran peace talks that took place in April 2026 show a real event? No, that's not true: The image showed several signs of AI generation. Additionally, there were no news reports that such a search actually happened. The claim appeared in a post published on X…

We agree with some very prominent people. Here's our proposal... Fact Checking Day on April 2, 2026 marks almost a year since Lead Stories published our last fact check as part of Meta's Third-Party Fact Checking Partnership. Since that day we've published over 1500 fact checks on our U.S. website on topics ranging from fake Epstein Files emails mentioning Elon…

Does a video of an ICE agent taking a U.S. citizen off a plane in Texas show a real incident? No, that's not true: The video was a scripted skit performed by actors, showing a person wearing a face covering and flashing a badge before removing a man from a plane. The TikTok account where it was originally posted features…

Does a video show plainclothes ICE agents arresting a woman at a gate at San Francisco International Airport on March 22, 2026? Yes, that's true: A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Lead Stories that two women-- not one --were arrested. The spokesperson said the women attempted to flee and resisted officers. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…