Does the ownership of the late pedophile financier Jeffery Epstein's island also have ties to the Clinton Foundation? No, that's not true: This is an entirely false claim from a known satire site. The claim appeared an article published by dailyworldupdate.us on December 22, 2020, titled "Shell Corporation That Legally Owns Epstein's Island Traced To the Clinton Foundation" (archived here)…

Does a "sudden injection" of close to 385,000 votes in Michigan prove election fraud? No, that's not true: There's often a delay between when absentee ballots are counted and when they are reported, leading to what may look like a sudden spike in votes. A spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state told Lead Stories: "This is common in every…

Is Joe Biden's sister married to Stephen Owens, whose company owns Dominion Voting Systems? No, that's not true: Valerie Biden Owens is not married to Stephen Owens, according to a Dominion spokeswoman and numerous news accounts about the Biden family. Biden's only sister is married to John (Jack) Owens, who owns a Delaware-based telemedicine company, according to The Washington Post…

Were there just 133 million registered voters in the United States for the November 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: While we could not find a total for voters registered in for all 50 states as of November 4, 2020, we did find a cumulative number from before the election. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 153 million reported registered…

Does a photo show U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts with accused sex abuser Ghislaine Maxwell? No, that's not true: A photo posted on social media in December 2020 purportedly showing Roberts and Maxwell sitting together on a small couch actually shows Maxwell with Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model agency head who is accused of helping traffic teenage girls. There is…

Was there still an orange cap on the needle of the syringe when Speaker Nancy Pelosi got vaccinated against Covid-19? No, that's not true: social media posts using that claim all use a photo taken at an angle that obscures the needle but at least one press photos taken at the same event clearly shows the needle. An example of…

Has Fulton County, Georgia, election worker Ruby Freeman been arrested for voter fraud? No, that's not true: A top official at the Georgia secretary of state's office, which is constitutionally in charge of investigating voter fraud allegations, told Lead Stories the claim is "completely false." The social media posts actually misidentify Freeman as the "blonde-braid woman" seen in security video…

Does a political ad showing Georgia Senate candidate Raphael Warnock saying "God damn America" present the video in context? No, it does not: When Rev. Warnock uttered the controversial phrase, he was discussing the use of those words in a famous sermon by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. By taking Warnock's quote out of context, the ad implied he was communicating his…

Was Nancy Pelosi pictured unmasked at a party during the Covid-19 pandemic? No, that's not true: This is a photo from a restaurant opening January 7, 2020, 13 days before before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the United States. The claim appeared in a Facebook meme (archived here) published on December 17, 2020 with the caption "Hmmm." The…

Was the computer repair shop owner at the center of the Hunter Biden laptop story found dead? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a website that creates false content intended to trick conservatives into sharing. The repair shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, became the center of a major political controversy when he told reporters…

Did the FBI admit to accidentally destroying the laptop said to have belonged to Hunter Biden? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a website that trolls conservatives with outrageous false claims. The laptop in question has become infamous after the New York Post published emails that were allegedly found on the computer purportedly owned by…

Did a computer analyst prove voting software used in Antrim County, Michigan was designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud? No, that's not true: The expert making the claims has not been put under oath nor cross-examined, provides no witnesses and officials say he does not have access to the data needed to make the calculations he presents. Michigan's…

Did the Supreme Court issue a decision granting Donald Trump 34 more electoral votes than originally tabulated following the general election? No, that's not true: This is a satirical post. The Supreme Court issued no such ruling nor did the court hear any case that would result in this outcome. People who follow the meme's instructions to do a Google…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court signal it would reconsider the Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, if refiled "with the correct terms"? No, that's not true: Election law experts consulted by Lead Stories agreed that technical differences in filing would not make any difference in the outcome of the case. They consider it closed. As…

Did presidential electors in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada cast their electoral college votes for President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Joe Biden got all of the electoral college votes in those three states, a result of the Biden-Harris ticket winning the majority of the certified votes there. Electors gathered at state capitols around the United States Monday, December 14,…

Did Joe Biden say "My son has not made money in China" in the first presidential debate? No, that's not true: During the September 29, 2020 debate, Biden addressed the controversy over his son landing overseas work at the time that Biden was vice president and overseeing several aspects of U.S. foreign policy. In response to a long flurry of…

Were U.S. Navy aircraft carrier fleets positioned off both U.S. coasts after the Supreme Court refused to hear the lawsuit seeking to overturn election results that cost Trump a second term? No, that's not true: A Pentagon source confirmed to Lead Stories that carrier ships are often positioned off both coasts of the United States and they were there Dec.…

Did China buy Dominion Voting Systems for $400 million in October 2020? No, that's not accurate: A Swiss investment bank's New York subsidiary, UBS Securities LLC, in October bought $400 million in shares Dominion's parent company, Staple Street Capital LLC. While it appears three of the four board members of that subsidiary's board are Chinese and could represent Chinese investors,…

Did Raphael Warnock "invite Fidel Castro to his church"? No, there's no evidence that's true: Warnock, who is running for the U.S. Senate to represent Georgia, was a youth pastor at New York City's Abyssinian Baptist Church, where the former Cuban leader spoke in 1995. Warnock has said he did not invite Castro, never met him and "did not make…

Was Georgia state Sen. Elena Parent busted counting ballots in Pennsylvania? No, that's not true: A video that purportedly captures her counting votes does not show Parent but a local poll worker in Pennsylvania. Parent told Lead Stories that she's not been to Pennsylvania in 2020 and has never counted ballots in a state or local election. A spokeswoman for…