History

Is there a federal "Born In America" act that would prevent naturalized citizens from elected office being promoted by numerous luminaries including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. John Kennedy, Rep. Jim Jordan, FBI Director Kash Patel, and movie star Denzel Washington? No, that's not true: Nearly identical versions of a dramatic story about the purported bill, changed only to…

Was Decarlos Brown Jr., accused of killing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, a foreign national who "came in through open borders," as Donald Trump said during the State of the Union address? No, that is not true: Brown was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and graduated from West Mecklenburg High School. Because he was born in the United States, he is…

Do photos and social media accounts of Austin Tucker Martin reveal him to be transgender? No, that's not true: The photos purporting to show Martin, who was killed while allegedly armed and breaking into President Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club, are mislabeled. They show an unidentified person who does not resemble verified family photos of Martin. No credible reporting about Austin…

Did a meme about the "National Intelligence Agency" discovering Bernie Sanders owns several companies and bank accounts in China originate from actual news reports? No, that's not true: It originated on a satirical Facebook page run by a liberal man with a long history of tricking conservatives into sharing made-up content. The meme had an explicit disclaimer from the Facebook…

Did NBA player Victor Wembanyama, or NFL players Jeremiyah Love, Jalen Hurts, or Micah Parsons, reward Maria Thompson with a pickup truck or SUV after she helped him when he was having car trouble? No, that's not true: This story is a copy/paste clickbait formula which has been circulating on social media. Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names…

Did Rep. Ted Lieu say that the full, unreleased Epstein files show Donald Trump raping children? No, that's not true: Lieu said at a February 3, 2026, news conference that the files include "highly disturbing allegations" of Donald Trump raping and threatening to kill children. He did not reference "unreleased" files, or say that child rapes are seen in them.…

Does an image show Attorney General Pam Bondi at age 14 with President Donald Trump at a Jeffrey Epstein party? No, that's not true: An AI-generated content detector concluded that it was 99.9% certain to have been made by an artificial intelligence tool. Lead Stories found obvious signs that it was a deepfake image in 2023 when we fact checked…

Did Kristi Noem say "If Jesus wanted America to speak Spanish and have the Super Bowl half time show in a foreign language, he would not have written the Bible in English."? No, that's not true: Noem did not say this. This fake quote came from a meme shared by a satire page that included a small watermark with the…

Does a video show Erika Kirk's entrance at the Turning Point USA halftime show, wearing a green robe, short shorts and a midriff-baring top? No, that's not true: Erika Kirk never took the stage during the "TPUSA All-American Halftime Show". This video does not show Erika Kirk or the Feb. 8, 2026 TPUSA program -- it shows pro wrestler Charlotte…

Did the White House post an alert that all flights were grounded, airspace was restricted and the National Guard had been activated on Feb. 6, 2026? No, that's not true: Nothing on the White House website, the FAA alert history or in real news reporting shows any such actions were taken. The hoax has circulated through traffic farming accounts and…