Was Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs hanged at Guantanamo Bay on December 22, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes "humor, parody, and satire" content. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by Real Raw…
Did Katie Hobbs "mysteriously" step down as governor of Arizona? No, that's not true: Hobbs left the state for one night to attend a meeting in Washington, D.C., her office said. State Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced on social media that she was the acting governor while Hobbs was out of state from September 27, 2023, to September 28, 2023. The…
Did the Arizona Senate bring indictments against Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Runbeck Election Services, banks and local police for election fraud and other crimes? No, that's not true: The Arizona Senate is not authorized to issue indictments, the state Senate GOP spokesperson told Lead Stories. The video shown in the social-media post that made the claim…
Are lawmakers, judges and other public officials in Arizona taking bribes from the Sinaloa cartel and fixing elections? No, there's no reliable evidence that's true: Jacqueline Breger, an insurance agent who made the allegations during a joint meeting of the Arizona House and Senate elections committees on February 23, 2023, did not provide credible proof to back up her explosive…
Did nearly a quarter of a million voting attempts fail in the November 8, 2022, election in Arizona and did that impact the vote count? No, that's not true: The communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department called the allegation "textbook disinformation." While many ballots were scanned and rescanned multiple times, the votes were ultimately counted. Arizona Secretary of…
Did Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, tweet about "Elon Musk's suicide" in response to the Twitter CEO releasing corporate discussions, now known as "The Twitter Files," about Twitter's removal of content or blocking accounts? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could not find the tweet on Clinton's verified Twitter account or its…
Did Arizona drag out midterm election ballot-counting for a week so that the tally would award the governor's race to Katie Hobbs -- the Democrat in charge of all state elections -- despite voters going "red in every other category"? No, that's not true: election results showed several other races in Arizona -- known for split-ticket ballots -- went blue…
Did Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs' office contact Twitter to have posts removed to censor political opponents? No, that's not true: Hobbs' office asked the Center for Internet Security in 2021 to alert Twitter about an account that was making false claims about the state's voter information database. The tweets that were flagged had nothing to do with the…
If Arizonans voted primarily for Republican candidates in the November 8, 2022, election, but a Democrat still won the race for governor, was the election rigged? No, that's not true: Election data from past years show ticket-splitting is common in Arizona. An Arizona pollster with two decades experience tracking election data told Lead Stories it is not unusual for the…
Does an increase in inactive voters show evidence of criminal intent in Arizona for the 2022 election? No, that's not true: The numbers in Maricopa County, Arizona, shown in the claim are accurate, representing tallies after several mailings were sent to voters to update information as required by state law, a county official told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in…
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