Would President Donald Trump lose lifetime benefits if impeached? No, that's not true: To lose such benefits, he'd also have to be convicted and removed from office. Impeachment is a process. The House of Representatives first votes on articles of impeachment. If a majority of members votes to impeach, the question moves to the Senate, which holds a trial. If…

Does this video show the Trump family and others having a party while watching television coverage of the assault on the U.S. Capitol building? No, that's not true: This video, posted on the account of Donald Trump Jr., shows the scene inside the backstage tent in the moments before Donald Trump went on stage to speak to supporters gathered at…

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 Alabama man Kevin Greeson die after accidentally tasing himself inside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection? No, this claim is based on a fake statement purported to be from Greeson's family. The real family statement said he suffered a heart attack, and did not say it was triggered when he accidentally tasered "himself in the balls."…

Did Olive Garden announce it was revoking the "Never Ending Pasta Pass" for any customers identified as a participant in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, along with the revocation of Sean Hannity's "Lifetime Pasta Pass"? No, that's not true: The person who created the meme has acknowledged he was making a "social media statement" as a joke. He has…

Is it true that all insurrectionists were let go after storming the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: A number were arrested on the day of the riots and charged in connection with the violence and destruction. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published by Shaun King on January…

Did President Donald Trump file state and federal lawsuits against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for allegedly "leaking" the tape of a "confidential litigation call" regarding the president's request to overturn election results? No, that's not true: Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, whom the Gateway Pundit article used as the source about lawsuits, told Lead Stories he was…

Did police withhold tear gas when insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: There has been criticism of the police response to the rioters and the chief of Capitol police resigned in the aftermath of the chaos, but tear gas was used on the mob of Trump supporters who interrupted Congress' ceremonial counting…

Was Vice President Mike Pence arrested during the chaos engulfing Capitol Hill on January 6, 2020? No, despite what social media posts are saying there is no evidence for this. Pence is still tweeting from his @VP account. An example of the claim appeared in a post (archived here), published on January 6, 2021. This is what the post looked…

Were directions to Washington, D.C., from Apple Maps and Google Maps purposefully shut down to prevent Donald Trump supporters from reaching rallies in support of his crusade to overturn the election he lost? No, that's not true: Both applications were still providing directions to D.C. and within D.C. Lead Stories staff from coast to coast tested a variety of cities…

Is the White House flying a 1776 flag as a signal from President Trump for a revolution? No, that's not true: This is a photo from 2019 and not a signal to revolt. This post comes as many Trump supporters are descending on Washington, D.C., to protest the January 6, 2021, meeting of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote…

Did D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser order the shut down of businesses during the week of January 4, 2021, to discourage Trump supporters from gathering in Washington? No, that's not true: In a statement on protests planned for January 6, 2021, Mayor Bowser discouraged D.C. residents from engaging with the protesters and laid out a slew of street closures around the…

Did Donald Trump literally beg the Georgia secretary of state to "invent" 11,000 votes? No, that's not true: The president did not utter "invent" during an hour-long phone call with Brad Raffensperger. To be clear, Trump repeatedly pressured Raffensperger to recalculate the vote in Georgia so that the state would flip in his favor -- he used the words "find"…

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…

Does a photo show suspected Nashville bomber Anthony Quinn Warner wearing a Trump 2020 hat? No, that's not true: The photo circulated on social media in the days after the Christmas morning bombing in Nashville, Tennessee is not of Warner, the 63-year-old Tennessee man identified by the FBI as the bomber. The bearded man in the photo is clearly not…

Does the stimulus bill passed December 21, 2020 by Congress strip President Donald J. Trump of his Insurrection Act authority? No, that's not true: The claim is based on a House of Representatives amendment from July 2020 to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, which did not make it into the final version of that legislation.…

Was Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of murdering George Floyd himself killed in prison and did he leave half of his estate to the Trump campaign? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made up stories that are clearly marked as satire when…

Does a photo show Chief Justice John Roberts swimming with Bill Clinton on Jeffrey Epstein's private island? No, that's not true: The image used to support the claim that Roberts visited Epstein's private island was taken at a resort in the Dominican Republic in 2017. The men seen socializing with former President Bill Clinton do not include Roberts. The claim…

Did Rudy Giuliani say "it's highly likely that all these people that have contracted the China Virus got it from having sex with barnyard animals"? No, there's no evidence he ever said that. Searches on Google and Twitter turned up no instance of such a quote attributed to Giuliani, who has tested positive for COVID-19. The claim appeared in a…

Was a fatal car crash a message for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp "to get back in line"? No, there's no evidence that's true: Although the cause of the crash, which killed an aide to Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, remains under investigation, a police spokeswoman told Lead Stories the accident involved a collision. "We've gotten the calls about possible bombings and…