Matt Gaetz

Did politician Matt Gaetz post on X about "momentary lapses of judgement from decades ago" in relation to "prepubescent girls" and the "Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot of such a post originated on a Reddit subforum ironically named "TOTALLYREALTWEETS". It was posted by a user whose bio read "fake tweet writer" and the text in the…

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly say that if members of Congress resigned over the same allegations leveled against former Rep. Matt Gaetz, "Democrats would have a supermajority"? No, that's not true: A satirical social media account made up that supposed quote. No credible news outlets have reported that Greene made that statement. The claim originated in a post (archived…

Did former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz tweet on X about "age gap dating" in November 2024? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Gaetz ever made such a post. Also, the account that published a screenshot of the supposed Gaetz post later revealed online that it was fake. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Threads…

Did President-elect Donald Trump name former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as his White House press secretary? No, that's not true: The statement saying Carlson was Trump's pick for the role was fabricated. Trump had not announced his new press secretary at the time of writing on November 14, 2024. Lead Stories did not find an announcement naming Carlson as…

Does an image featuring the likeness of Rep. Matt Gaetz in a revealing Tigger and Spider-Man costume actually show Gaetz? No, that's not true: The image was edited to add Gaetz's face to another person's body. The original image has been online since at least 2008 and has been altered to feature the faces of other public figures in the…

Did Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida suggest that people associated with the January 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol should be pardoned? No, that's not true: The tweet saying this did not come from his actual Twitter account, and the fake account has since been suspended. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published on July 6,…

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene scrub her Twitter account of support of Rep. Matt Gaetz? No, that's not true: Greene's Twitter is still full of tweets supporting Gaetz. The claim originated in a Facebook post (deleted as of April 13, 2021) where it was published by The National Strategic Stockpile of Memes and Satire on April 5 2021. It read:…

Was U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fined $40,000 for destruction government property for shredding her copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address? No, that's not true: This is a work of satire that has been ripped off by real fake news sites and presented as truth. First, copies of the speech do not belong to the National…

Could U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi face up to three years in prison for tearing up a copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address? No, that's not true: The law in question applies only to documents that are considered official government records - not copies of speeches, like the one Pelosi had in hand. Pelosi will not…