Presidential Pardon

Did President Joe Biden unilaterally release a Chinese spy convicted of possessing child pornography? No, that's not true: A White House spokesperson told Lead Stories a Chinese doctoral student sentenced to 8 years in federal prison in 2022 was granted clemency and deported on November 22, 2024, as part of a prisoner swap between the United States and China. Three…

Does President Joe Biden have the power to pardon Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson? No, that's not true: As of this writing, Mangione was jailed on state charges in Pennsylvania and was charged with murder by New York. The Constitution allows presidents to grant pardons only for federal crimes. The claim originated in…

Did President Joe Biden turn and smile when a reporter asked if his son, Hunter Biden, should receive a presidential pardon? No, that's not true: The audio track of this video was altered. Audio from a press briefing held on September 15, 2023, was added to video footage filmed on May 31, 2024, to suggest that Biden had smiled after…

Were 174 batches of ballots missing in the Fulton County, Georgia, vote count? No, that's not true: A spokeswoman for the county said no ballots were missing. A clip making the claim did not provide any sourcing to support it. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by "Populist Press" on June 7, 2021. Titled "'Explosive' Evidence Coming…

Does Mike Lindell's "Absolute Interference" video, his third that purports to prove 2020 election fraud, contain only proven statements? No, that's not true: It contradicts itself and recycles claims that have been debunked before, relying on discredited and anonymous guests who make unsubstantiated and disproven allegations. The video's orienting claim is that foreign and domestic actors hacked the election through…

Does Michael Flynn's interview with Alex Jones include only factual statements about the 2020 election? No, that's not true: The interview repeats disproven allegations of foreign interference, that thousands of dead people voted in Pennsylvania and that Donald Trump won up to 400 Electoral College votes. All are demonstrably false. Flynn's interview (archived here) with Jones -- a well-known conspiracy…

Is the White House pardons office soliciting Trump supporters involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection to apply for presidential pardons? No, that's not true: Parler posts posing as being from White House pardons attorneys were fake, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The pardons office "does not have a social media presence and is not involved in…

Did former Secretary of State and retired Army General Colin Powell urge "the U.S. military to recall [retired Army Lieutenant General] Michael Flynn and put him on military trial for sedition?" No, that's not true: There is no record of Gen. Powell attacking Lt. Genn. Flynn in such a public statement, but Powell's former chief of staff retired U.S. Army…

Did the U.S. Army seize vote-count servers in Germany operated by Dominion, the company that provides voting machines to many American states? No, that's not true: There is no sourcing for a tweet cited by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert for the claim, which the congressman admits he does not know to be true. Dominion is not affiliated with Scytl, the…

Did former President Richard M. Nixon pardon the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, on multiple charges including treason? No, this is not true. McCain -- who is hailed by many as a hero for his service and surviving captivity during the Vietnam War but who has been disparaged by President Trump -- was…