Election

Did Rep. Thomas Massie lose by 10,280 votes in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District Republican primary in May 2026, while candidate Ed Gallrein received 10,854 mail-in votes? And did Massie receive 50,301 votes out of 66,874 total votes in the 2022 primary, compared with 47,539 out of 105,361 total votes in 2026? Yes, those tallies are all true: Election results from…

Did "Biden body double" AJ Barron flip and cut a deal to testify about acting on behalf of the then-sitting president? No, that's not true: The tale originated from America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD), a network of satire sites. Lead Stories found no record of anyone named AJ Barron publicly claiming to be a Biden body double. The claim…

In a real social media post, did Donald Trump write about a Joe Biden visit to Moscow in 1987 and implicate him in various conspiracy theories? No, that's not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. Biden also never visited Moscow in 1987.…

Did Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania switch to the Republican Party, saying, "I'm never gonna be a communist who believes men should use the girls' bathroom"? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page known for its satirical content, which carries the warning "Nothing on this page is real." The image supporting the claim is also…

Does a real photo show Pope Leo XIV rocking Nikes with his clerical vestments? Yes, that's true: This is a real photo that appears in a trailer for a documentary about the time Pope Leo XIV spent in Rome before he was elected to be pope. The context for the photo offered in the trailer and the lack of traditional…

Did the United States have an election with 133 million registered voters in which 159 million votes were cast? No, that's not true: Official government figures for national elections do not support that claim. More than 158 million Americans cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election, but more than 168 million were registered to vote. The claim appeared in a…

Was Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of shooting at attendees at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner, on the payroll of the Democratic National Committee and several California Democratic politicians, including Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and Adam Schiff? No, that's not true: A DNC spokesperson, a Newsom spokesperson, and a Pelosi spokesperson all told Lead Stories the…

Is a photo of President Donald Trump with one eye closed and the other half open with the U.S. Marine Corps flag behind him new as of April 24, 2026? No, that's not true: The image appeared in social media posts as early as November 2020, although Lead Stories has been unable to pinpoint the exact date it was captured.…

Is there an "official poll" in Hungary that shows Viktor Orbán with 68% and Péter Magyar with 35% of the vote, as some social media posts imply? No, that's not true: Official polls would add up to a total of 100% and this one adds up to 103%, mathematically impossible. None of the social media posts with the phrase "Orbán…

Did Sky News report that Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar is withdrawing from the election in early April 2026? No, that's not true: The British news channel has not reported that Magyar has dropped out of the race for prime minister. There is also no credible evidence that he has ended his bid in this highly contested election. The claim…