Mike Pence

Are social media posts claiming that Pope Leo XIV and a long list of celebrities each filed a $50 million lawsuit against a news host for "vicious, calculated defamation" real? No, that's not true: None of the celebrities named in the posts made any such statement. The claims came from a spam operation managed from Vietnam that uses AI-generated Facebook…

Could a man who claimed in a viral video that he had a stack of unclaimed ballots mailed to voters who had moved use them to vote for Spencer Pratt for mayor of Los Angeles as he claimed? No, that's not true: The ballots appeared to be for a precinct in West Hollywood, which is a separate city from Los…

Did police find a male prostitute dead in the Indiana home of Mike Pence? No, that's not true: There is no news reporting of an incident such as this. This false news story originated from a Facebook page that lists its category as "comedian". The story has spread to other social media platforms without the comedy disclaimer. The story originated…

Is a photo of President Donald Trump with one eye closed and the other half open with the U.S. Marine Corps flag behind him new as of April 24, 2026? No, that's not true: The image appeared in social media posts as early as November 2020, although Lead Stories has been unable to pinpoint the exact date it was captured.…

Did your favorite sports star "shock fans" or "shake" the league by "publicly" or "flatly" refusing to wear an LGBT Rainbow Armband because it would turn the game "into a political circus"? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least 95 football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and hockey players in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan…

Did Fox broadcast a report that President Donald Trump has signed an executive order making the "National Economic Security And Recovery Act" (NESARA) the official policy of the nation? No, that's not true: A search of the Fox website turned up no such report, nor does The White House report Trump made such a declaration. That means the video of…

Did U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren suggest that Mollie Tibbetts' family has "to remember we need to focus on real problems like illegal immigrants not being able to see their kids"? No, that's not true: The viral meme distorted Warren's 2018 comments on the case in which an undocumented worker was charged and later convicted of the 20-year-old woman's murder. During…

Did Instagram and its parent company, Meta, force users to follow Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The accounts in question are reserved for the sitting vice president and president, respectively. Ownership was transferred to the leaders shortly after they assumed office. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram on January 21, 2025.…

Was former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper recorded in a 2021 videotaped deposition saying that Vice President Mike Pence and several others conspired in an attempt to remove President Donald Trump from office? No, that's not true: The recording is actually of a different person, Ryan Dark White, a failed U.S. Senate candidate who also used the name Jon…

Did a video show former Republican Vice President Mike Pence endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the 2024 U.S. presidential elections? No, that's not true: The video was edited to make it sound like Pence endorsed Harris and Walz, the Democratic presidential ticket. In the original footage of Pence's remarks, he stated that he could not vote for Harris…