Election

Does a video titled "Operation Metro Freeze" show real footage of a deportation flight in Minnesota? No, that's not true: AI made that clip. Early versions of it showed a watermark pointing to a specific generative AI tool and it's unlikely a military transport plane would have a tail number like the one in the video. The claim appeared in…

Did Barron and Melania Trump, Prince Harry Mountbatten-Windsor, Eminem and Vince Gill each "quietly spend $10 million" to build churches without seeking publicity? No, that's not true: The fake images and nearly-verbatim fake stories appear on Facebook pages that send users to made-for-advertising sites. The church-building stories, featuring more than a dozen different celebrities, are the Christmas 2025 entrant in…

Has Tina Peters been "fully pardoned" by Donald Trump, wiping out her prison sentence for giving unauthorized access to Mesa County, Colorado, voting machines in 2021, when she was county clerk? No, that's not true: Trump's "pardon" of Peters is only symbolic, not official. The U.S. Constitution grants the President power to pardon only those criminals facing federal charges. Peters,…

Silvia Cernan Gutierrez is a multidisciplinary professional with almost two decades of experience spanning journalism, digital media, education, marketing, and international program management. She joined Lead Stories in November 2025. Silvia discovered her passion for investigative journalism in New York City, where she worked as part of a newsroom team producing digital news content and managing web and social coverage…

Did Barack Obama say that he wants to return to the White House in 2028 as president through "legal avenues" or as a "proxy candidate"? No, that's not true: Contrary to the posts citing his "exclusive interview on a major news network" on December 7, 2025, the former president did not talk to any TV stations on that day. He…

Did Barron Trump announce a 2028 run for U.S. Senate at an event that "broke Washington in half"? No, that's not true: Barron Trump would still be too young to qualify for service in the U.S. Senate in 2028. A viral Facebook post contained verifiably false details about a viral hashtag and there being actual news reports about such an…

Did prominent Americans like Elon Musk, Caitlin Clark, Stephen Colbert, and Joy Behar each pay down $667,000 of schoolkids' lunchroom debts? No, there's no evidence that's true: In the case of FBI Director Kash Patel, the gift was inflated to $979,000, which would be more than five times his FBI salary.The posts making the claims include no evidence by which…

Did the Associated Press publish a fact check titled 'No, Ghislaine Maxwell did not own a horse named "Bubba"' and did it mention her having a golden retriever at the time? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot showing such a headline along with AP's logo and mentioning Jeffrey Epstein is fake. There is no such story on the Associated…

Did Andrea Bocelli cancel his New York City concert after Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor, saying "I don't sing for communists"? No, that's not true: There are multiple social media posts showing Bocelli and other artists including Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Brandon Lake, Steven Tyler and George Strait with a message saying that they have canceled upcoming concerts in New…

Is a video of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, saying he voted to keep the government shut down because he could never say no to Chuck Schumer, real? No, that's not true: A small disclaimer at the bottom of the video acknowledges that it was made by an artificial intelligence tool. The video, which was shared on the…