Did Dominion Voting Systems lose its lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, court records show that both defamation cases remain open. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on May 30, 2021. It also appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on June 27, 2021. The…

Is a batch of 950 military ballots for Joe Biden in Fulton County, Georgia, proof of election fraud? No, that's not true: Posts making that claim say the ballots were in sequential order but ballots aren't numbered, according to a county spokesperson. Also, the fact that all 950 ballots in one batch went for Joe Biden can be explained by…

Did the prices of lumber, gas, wheat, coal and corn suddenly increase in 2021-- ever since President Joe Biden took office? No, that's not true: The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous effect on national and international economies. This, coupled with other issues unique to each item, has produced many unprecedented swings in prices. The five commodities featured in…

Is Georgia the first state to decertify 2020 election results? No, that's not true: Georgia officials have done no such thing. The claim appears based on speculation, not the circumstances as of the day it was published. The claim relates to the audit of absentee ballots in Fulton County, Georgia's most populous county. The claim apparently assumes both that the…

Do "USA crime statistics" for 2015 show the correct percentages for Blacks and Whites killing each other, and for police killings of both races? No, that's not true. A meme that claims to show the percentage of killings of Black and White people by race, and victims of police killings by race, has completely wrong numbers, according to the FBI…

Will Donald Trump be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States and is the military in charge because Joe Biden is not the legitimate president? No, that's not true. Attorney L. Lin Wood made those false claims -- all of which Lead Stories has previously debunked -- in an interview. Under the 20th Amendment to the U.S.…

Did Chelsea Clinton tweet about Bill Gates with, "What kind of man pursues a physical relationship with an underling and has relations with her in their office???"? No, that's not true: The tweet is fake; it does not show up on her verified Twitter account. The claim originated in a Facebook post (archived here) published on May 19, 2021. As…

Did a whistleblower claim that Dominion changed 3.8 million votes in the 2020 election? No, there's no evidence that's true: A post making the allegation against Dominion Voting Systems did not identify the alleged whistleblower and did not offer any proof to substantiate its claim. Previous claims about purported vote flipping have been repeatedly disproven. A spokesperson for Dominion dismissed…

Were Democrats "caught" not wearing masks at the White House? No, that's not true: They were not wearing masks at a May 20, 2021, event at the White House because they were following the Centers for Disease Control guidelines. As of May 13, 2021, the CDC said vaccinated individuals could gather indoors without masks. The claim appeared in a video…

Did a computer-generated (CGI) hologram that looked like President Joe Biden appear before a group of reporters and take questions before walking across the lawn and boarding Marine One? And is this the only logical conclusion to explain why Biden's hand appeared to drift through a reporter's microphone in a glitchy way in one recording of the scene? No, that's…

Was Joe Biden caught "fake driving"? No, that's not true: Footage from various news organizations show the president in control, behind the wheel, on May 18, 2021, when he test-drove Ford's electric F-150 Lightning pickup. Claims to the contrary are based on illogical leaps from snippets of video. "This rumor is badly misguided," a spokesperson for Ford told Lead Stories.…

Does this video of coronavirus conspiracist David Martin say that Dr. Anthony Fauci owns a patent on the coronavirus and that his income is 100% dependent on keeping the COVID-19 pandemic going? No, that's not true: Martin makes neither claim in the video. To be clear, Martin is no defender of Fauci or of policies of the Centers for Disease…

Did Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), admit to wearing protective masks only for show? No, that's not true: In a televised interview, Fauci stated that because he is fully vaccinated, he feels comfortable in indoor settings without a mask. He said he wore masks indoors to avoid "mixed signals" after being…

Did Joe Biden grope Jen Psaki's breasts? No, that's not true: this is a photoshopped revision of an image that had already been photoshopped. The original photo, from a 2013 holiday party, does not show Biden groping a woman's breasts. The first alteration, debunked by Lead Stories in April 2020, moved Biden's hands from the waist of a reporter to…

Does the latest "X22 Report" video contain only true and accurate claims? No, that's not true: The video recycles falsehoods circulated by QAnon conspiracy theorists and contradicted by credible publicly available documentation. Among the debunked claims are that the 2020 election was rigged, that Donald Trump won in a landslide and that hydroxychloroquine and zinc are a cure for COVID-19.…

Is the scope of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown somehow related to whether states are red or blue? No, that's not true: There's no connection between the shutdown and whether states are Democratic or Republican. The system spans more than 5,500 miles between Texas and New Jersey, an area that includes states of both political persuasions. In May 2021, the pipeline…

Was the United States energy independent four months ago, before President Joe Biden came into office? Has it lost ground in terms of energy independence, and has this resulted in gas shortages in May 2021? No, none of those things are true: In January 2021 the U.S. consumed more energy than it produced, its energy independence rises and falls, and…

Did U.S. first lady Jill Biden have a medical license stripped from her by a medical board? No, that's not true: Biden is not a medical doctor and the publication that made the claim is a known satire website. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) titled "Medical Review Board Revokes Jill Biden's License" that was posted on the…

Is the Keystone Pipeline closed and is that causing a gas shortage? No, that's not true. The gas shortage on the East Coast of the United States in May 2021 was triggered by a cyberattack that caused the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which runs from Houston to New Jersey and supplies 45% of the gasoline to the East Coast.…

Did Michigan authorize a full forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: No new audits are planned, a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state told Lead Stories on May 11, 2021. Since the election, more than 250 audits have been completed, reflecting the largest number of audits ever conducted in Michigan's history. The claim appeared…