Did U.S. President Donald Trump publicly say or write that his predecessor, Joe Biden, "destroyed our country" and now "cancer is destroying him" in August 2026? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find evidence that the exact viral quote shared on social media actually belonged to Trump. It did not originate from any of his accounts on social…
Does a screenshot show a real Mehdi Hasan social media post with a September 11 photo and the caption, "Make American planes crash again."? No, that's not true: The screenshot is altered. The original Feb. 16, 2025, and later deleted post by Hasan did not have a 9/11 image showing a plane about to crash into the World Trade Center.…
Did President Donald Trump file an emergency motion to "stop his own lawsuit against the BBC"? No, that's not true: The president's lawyers asked a U.S. federal judge for a stay of discovery into his finances in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, which the judge granted on Aug. 6, 2026. Had Trump wanted to stop his…
Did President Donald Trump post an AI-generated image of himself standing between Gen. George Patton and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with all three men wearing inaccurate uniforms? Yes, that's true: The image appeared on his Truth Social account. An AI detection tool found a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was generated using OpenAI tools. Another concluded that it was very likely…
Is a photo real that shows White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, second lady Usha Vance and Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, holding their babies as President Donald Trump and his wife Melania look on? There is no evidence that the three women, along with the Trumps, posed for such an image. In…
Did an Aug. 3, 2026, procession in Louisville bring the corpse of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to the coroner's office there? No, that's not true: The Louisville Metro Police Department told Lead Stories that reports involving McConnell were "completely false" and said authorities were escorting the body of an officer who had died. As of Aug. 5, 2026, there…
Was a man named "François Faivre", the supposed surgeon who "announced Brigitte Macron's transgender transformation," found dead in Paris in June 2026? No, that's not true: Lead Stories searched the French national registry of the deceased but found no exact matches. The claim came from a video showing AI-generated people that has resurfaced on the internet multiple times since 2025.…
Does a photo show a real Massachusetts license plate that reads "5TAB 47"? Yes, that's true: The Massachusetts Department of Transportation told Lead Stories that it is "an existing Massachusetts passenger plate," is not a vanity plate and was "randomly assigned." Some people have interpreted "5TAB 47" as "Stab 47," a threat to kill Donald Trump, the 47th president of…
Did Karoline Leavitt say, "It's hard for President Trump to make key decisions on Iran when he doesn't have enough intelligence"? No, that's not true: The White House press secretary never remarked that Trump "doesn't have enough intelligence." The fake quote was published by a humorist on social media. There are no records of her making the comment on the…
Did President Donald Trump post an O.J. Simpson meme showing former President Barack Obama and first lady Melania Trump riding in the white Bronco together? No, that's not true: Trump posted a meme in 2025 on his Truth Social account showing himself in a police car chasing Obama in Simpson's white Bronco with Vice President J.D. Vance in another police…
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