Did Pope Leo XIV say, "Iran can have a nuclear weapon," as President Donald Trump suggested on the White House lawn in April 2026? No, that's not true: The pope has repeatedly argued against war and denounced nuclear weapons. In March 2026, he posted on X, "Let us #PrayTogether that nations move toward effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, and that…
Did Pope Leo XIV misquote Jesus as saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion"? No, that's not true: The pope wasn't reading a Scripture passage at the time; he was delivering a homily on peace while in Bamenda, Cameroon, on a tour of Africa. The sentence in question excerpted a famous line from the Gospel…
Did President Donald Trump post on social media saying he gave Pope Leo XIV his job and that he ordered acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate the Catholic Church? No, that's not true: The fake screenshot with a blue verification badge was made to look like a post from @realDonaldTrump on the X platform -- but Trump has not…
Was a Georgia school bus driver sued by parents because their children suffered scrapes when he stopped abruptly after a rock hit the windshield, critically injuring him? No, that's not true: There is no reporting about a lawsuit or school bus incident in Georgia matching these details. The photo of "Marcus" appearing in the video is a stock photo that…
Is a video that shows a prisoner hiding in his cell by suspending himself under the ceiling while a guard checks the cell authentic? No, that's not true: Online detection tools flagged the video as likely AI-generated. One rated it as 100% AI-generated. The claim appeared in a video posted on April 14, 2026, on X account @Oguthaane (archived here).…
Is a paper by Dr. Drew Pinsky, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Harvey Risch, and nine others claiming that ivermectin and mebendazole improve cancer outcomes in 84.4% of cases a proper medical study? No, that's not true: Research experts told Lead Stories that the paper relies on an uncontrolled, self-reported survey with major bias, no independent verification of diagnoses or outcomes,…
Does a real unmanipulated video show Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying "conspiracy theorists were right" and the COVID-19 vaccine maybe causes "gayness" and calling Anthony Fauci a "goblin"? No, that's not true: The audio in the video has been altered. An un-altered original video of RFK Jr. originally making the speech shows that he never claims the vaccine causes those…
Did President Donald Trump post a depiction of himself as a Christ-like healer on Truth Social on April 12, 2026? Yes, that's true: While fake Trump posts are often widely shared on social platforms and can quickly go viral, Lead Stories reviewed this instance and confirmed that Trump posted it. The content appeared on his verified Truth Social account. It…
Did CNN rely on an unnamed "fake news site from Nigeria" to report on Iran's ceasefire statements on April 7, 2026, as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence that CNN relied on a Nigerian website. The initial CNN report said that the statement attributed directly to the Supreme National Security Council was…
Does a real video show a hands-free floating drone-powered umbrella? No, that's not true: The video of a woman doing chores on a dairy farm on a rainy day is AI-generated. Engineers have experimented with various approaches to make this idea a reality, but this specific video is not real. The video appeared in a post on X published by…
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