Election

Did Secret Service Agent Larry Cockell document that Bill Clinton stopped to speak with a homeless Desert Storm veteran named Marcus Williams outside the Kennedy Center in 1997? No, that's not true: This sentimental story is fictional clickbait. The story's many details make it sound believable but they do not check out. There is no record of this 1997 interaction…

Does a viral post accurately summarize Zohran Mamdani's words from a podcast recorded more than five years before he was sworn in as New York City mayor? No, that's not true: The quote was shortened, and it changed its meaning. A longer, more elaborate fragment of his speech shows that he suggested that it shouldn't be the police, but specially…

Does a video show real footage of a U.K. member of Parliament asking why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not been captured the same way the United States captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela? No, that's not true: The clip was generated using artificial intelligence. Early versions of the video included a watermark indicating a specific generative AI tool. There…

Did Republican representative Jack Kimble make a post about other countries potentially invading the U.S. "if we ever had" a "highly corrupt leader" as President? No, that's not true: The post was satire from an account on X that pretends to be a non-existent Republican politician. A screenshot of the post that went viral did not identify the account as…

Are 315,000 unsigned early votes in Fulton County, Georgia proof of electoral fraud? No, that's not true: The Georgia secretary of state told Lead Stories that the missing signatures on tabulator results were the consequence of a clerical error and did not invalidate legally cast votes. An election expert told Lead Stories that the minor administrative error did not affect…

Does a viral clip show real "transgender Providence Police Department spokesperson Lyle Culpepper" demanding that the public stop saying "the Brown shooter"? No, that's not true: The person in the video is comedian L.E. Staiman. In interviews, Staiman has said that he believes his videos are so absurd that people can easily understand they are parody and satire. The claim…

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…