Did Alyssa Milano say she had "no idea" that she was supposed to report what she used her $1.2 million USAID grant for? No, that's not true: That story originated on a satirical Facebook page that clearly labels its content as fake. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The self-described…
Did Sen. Bernie Sanders get a $44 million USAID grant after he dropped out of the 2016 presidential race? No, that's not true: That story originated on a satirical Facebook page. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The claim appeared in an August 18, 2025 Facebook post (archived here) on…
Did The Sun publish a video claiming Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle sold Princess Diana's iconic revenge dress to Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska for $2.9 million in April 2025? No, that's not true: There is no such story or video on The Sun's website or social media. The quote from "Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams" in the video was cut…
Did Congressional Democrats hold an inaugural meeting of something they described as a "shadow government" in the United States in April 2025? No, that's not true: On April 7, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jamie Raskin led Democratic members of the Senate and House Judiciary committees in a meeting held without the involvement of members of the other party --…
Was former U.S. president Barack Obama caught "laundering money through the Cayman Islands" for private gain in March 2025, as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: The viral post misrepresented the words of a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast. That person was talking about U.S. government funding of a "Cuban Twitter", not about Obama's direct involvement…
Did the group known as the "Patriot Front" disband the day after Kash Patel started as FBI Director or shortly after Christopher Wray resigned from that position? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the group's website is still active. So is their Telegram channel, where they were actively publishing updates. There have been several claims the group has…
Does attorney Norm Eisen -- who sued Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for alleged illegal dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) -- have a daughter who once worked for a non-profit funded by USAID? No, that's not true: Eisen has a daughter named Tamar. But she is not the same Tamar Eisen, whose…
Did the New York Post report that USAID paid TIME Magazine $4 million to make Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy the 2022 Person of the Year, as a post and video on X.com claimed? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the newspaper's website did not show such a story. A search across a government spending database did not produce…
Did USAID pay Pizza Hut $150 million "to renovate and modernize" in 1997? No, that's not true: The post making the viral claim on social media offered no evidence to support it. Lead Stories found no credible reports proving it, either. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on February 6, 2025. It opened: USAID paid…
Were there actual news reports about Nancy Pelosi's vineyard receiving $14 million from USAID for "experimental farming"? No, that's not true: The story originated in a meme from a satirical Facebook page. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The meme appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published by the…
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