&Quot;Donald Trump&Quot;

Does a video show former President Donald Trump visiting the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023 to comfort survivors of the devastating wildfires there? No, that's not true: The footage of Trump is from 2019, when Trump visited Alabama following a tornado. As of August 19, 2023, he had not visited Maui after its wildfires. The claim appeared in…

Does a photo show a real mug shot for former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: No mug shot had yet been taken of Trump for any of his court cases as of August 16, 2023. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Twitter on August 15, 2023. It opened: #Indicted. Over 80 times. And now indictments…

Is Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis challenging former President Donald Trump to prove his accusation that she had a relationship with a gang member or face additional charges? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available evidence as of August 10, 2023, to substantiate a social media post making that claim. Willis directly addressed the accusations and…

Was Megan Rapinoe, a renowned U.S. women's soccer player, fired from the Seattle "OL Reign" team and the U.S. Olympic team, and did she also lose a multi-million TV deal as a result of missing a penalty kick during the Women's World Cup series? No, that's not true: Rapinoe only announced finishing her professional career after the U.S. was eliminated…

Is a video that warns about what the "deep state" could be doing to subvert democracy in the United States an official Donald Trump presidential campaign ad? No, that's not true: The caption on the screen of the video implies that it was produced and/or released by the Trump campaign but it was posted on a Twitter account whose owner…

Were a U.S. Army major and a command sergeant major arrested after recruiting 250 soldiers into a private army "whose mission was to suppress civil insurrection if Joseph Biden wins the 2024 presidential election"? No, that's not true: This claim was posted by a well-known and frequently debunked publisher of fake news. The claim appeared in an article (archived here)…

Did Sen. Mitt Romney threaten to leave the Republican Party and join the Democrats? No, that's not true: The Utah senator's spokesperson told Lead Stories there was "zero truth" to the claim. Romney filed paperwork in July 2023 that would allow him to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate as a Republican. The claim appeared in a post published on…

Did President Joe Biden take away $250 million in funding for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) that is dedicated to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)? No, that's not true: The Biden administration has provided funding to HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) during his presidency. The federal government, however, does not provide any funding to HBCUs through the…

Does the music video "Try That In A Small Town" by country music singer Jason Aldean only contain "real news footage," as he asserted in a public response to criticism that his song and video promote violence and allude to timeworn lynching threats? No, that's not true: Not every clip in the video is news footage. There are several stock…

Does a pro-Ron DeSantis PAC ad use a real recording of former President Donald Trump's voice? No, that's not true: The audio of Trump used in the ad was created by artificial intelligence, the spokesperson for the political action committee told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published by Never Back Down on July 18, 2023,…