Does a real photo show President Donald Trump bowing to Chinese President Xi Jinping as they shake hands at the start of the Trump-Xi Summit in Beijing? No, that's not true: The image shows a common sign of AI generation -- unnaturally blended fingers. There are also no credible news reports documenting such a scene actually happening. The claim appeared…
Did Donald Trump post a fake photo of himself walking with an alien? Yes, that's true: The president shared the photo of him walking next to an alien on his Truth Social account on May 17, 2026. An online detection tool rated the photo of the president with the alien as AI-generated. The claim appeared in a May 17, 2026,…
Does a photo of Trump speaking at a microphone show how he looked on May 8, 2026? No, that's not true: This image has been digitally edited. The real photo, taken by a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press, shows Trump speaking at a White House Rose Garden event. The digital edit to the photo has removed most of the…
Was a viral video of a flying egg-shaped object part of the Pentagon UFO files release? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed the first -- and the only available, as of this writing -- batch of the released materials and did not find the video in question there. It also did not match the visual style of other released…
Does a real video show a female military captain named Elena Carter not saluting President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video was posted on an account that contains self-described AI videos. Details in the video also point to it being AI-generated. The claim appeared in a post made on Threads on May 14, 2026 (archived here). It included…
Does a real photo show President Donald Trump and tech CEOs Elon Musk and Jensen Huang raising their fists in front of a Chinese flag? No, that's not true: The image shows common signs of AI generation. There are no credible news reports that the three men pledged allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, nor any documentation of the fist-raising…
Is a memo about an "unidentified humanoid" a real Department of War document released with other "UFO files" in May 2026? No, that's not true: The document does not appear in the publicly available UFO files released by the Trump administration or the Department of War as of the time of publication. A search for "1994" in the files, the…
Does a real photo show the golden Trump statue at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami covered in toilet paper and trash? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the statue was vandalized, and no credible news reports confirm that it happened. The image appears to be an alteration of a photograph that first appeared in the…
Does the viral image of President Donald Trump and a girl wearing traditional Chinese dress show a real-life scene? No, that's not true: The image was created with AI. It originated from a meme account, not an evidence-based content creator. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on May 13, 2026. The caption read: This poor…
Does a viral image of U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, plus money manager Larry Fink eating Panda Express food show a real scene aboard Air Force One en route to China for an official visit in May 2026? No, that's not true: The image was generated or altered using AI. It…
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