United States

Does a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris saying that young adults "are stupid" accurately reflect what she said in a 2014 speech about crime prevention? No, that's not true: The full transcript shows that when she said 18- to 24-year-olds "are stupid" and "make really bad decisions", she was including her college-aged self. A social media video snippet stripped…

Did former President Jimmy Carter die on July 23, 2024? No, that's not true: The owner of the account that posted a fake letter about Carter passing away told Lead Stories he carried out the hoax to show how sensationalist news spreads. The Carter Center, a human rights organization founded by the 39th president, also denied that Carter had died,…

Do memorandums by President Joe Biden prove he is transferring his presidential power to others in advance of his death? No, that's not true: The delegation of powers to lower-level officials is a common practice in the federal government. There are dozens of examples during the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations where each president delegated limited "functions and authorities" to…

Did a Florida judge find that an individual "lied" about actions made by social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate? No, that's not true: The judge who made the decision did not rule yet on the question if the person actually defamed the Tate brothers. Rather, he denied a motion to dismiss defamation counts the brothers filed against the person,…

Does an image of President Joe Biden with solid black eyeballs wearing a black protective face mask support a rumor that he died? No, that's not true: The image is fake, with several flaws typical of AI-generated images, and Biden is alive as of this writing on July 23, 2024. A browser extension from Hive Moderation determined the image was…

Did the would-be assassin who fired at former President Donald Trump use the roof of a building owned by investment firm BlackRock? No, that's not true: According to Pennsylvania property records, that building is owned by a different company, American Glass Research. No credible news organization reported otherwise, and BlackRock denied the claim in an email to Lead Stories. The…

Was President Joe Biden in hospice care as of July 23, 2024? No, that's not true: He was diagnosed with COVID-19, on July 17, 2024, then tested negative for COVID and was seen in public on July 23, 2024, returning to the White House. The social media account that first made the claim is not a reputable news organization and…

Did the U.S. Capitol lower its flag to half-staff during the week of July 22, 2024, because President Joe Biden had died? No, that's not true: The flag was lowered on July 22, 2024, to honor Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died July 19, 2024, a representative for House Speaker Mike Johnson told Lead Stories. Beyond notification that Biden had…

Did Donald Trump write on X that he was "regrowing" his ear after it was pierced by a bullet? No, that's not true: The creator of the fake Trump post admitted it was meant to be satirical. The X post does not appear on the former president's X account. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly…

Did Kamala Harris' simplistic explanations of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on a podcast demonstrate she has a limited understanding of geopolitics? No, that's not true: This claim leaves out key context. Her answer was in response to the host, who asked Harris to explain the conflict in "layman's terms." Layman's terms is defined as "simple language that anyone can understand,"…

When he dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, was it too late for Joe Biden's name to be removed from general election presidential ballots across the country? No, that's not true: Biden was not yet on the ballot for this election cycle, as his primary election wins only made him the presumptive nominee. The party's official candidate…

Did Kamala Harris tell a group she was "a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit" for no reason during the normal course of starting a meeting? No, that's not true: Harris was describing herself and what she was wearing, which is considered good manners during a meeting with blind or visually impaired persons. She was speaking at…

Did Joe Biden's letter withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race require the presidential seal? No, that's not true: The letter was written by Biden in his capacity as then-candidate -- not by Biden as president. The seal is only used for official presidential correspondence. The claim was implied in a post (archived here) on X, the site formerly known as…

Does an authentic video show Vice President Kamala Harris saying "Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today so that future today will past today, as it is tomorrow"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories submitted the clip to two AI detection tools, which documented substantial manipulation of the video in the…

Did the Kraft Heinz Company announce clear ketchup using lab-grown tomatoes, as a post on Instagram claimed? No, that's not true: A representative for The Kraft Heinz Company confirmed to Lead Stories that "these claims are false." The background of the video of a person pulling the bottle from a store shelf clearly reveals the bottles on the shelf are…

Did the man who tried to assassinate Republican nominee Donald Trump donate $15 to the Democrat online fundraising platform ActBlue or was it some other person as some people on social media claimed? Lead Stories confirmed through Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing reports that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man identified as the shooter, did donate $15 to ActBlue in 2021.…

Did short selling for Trump Media "more than double" between July 1 and July 12, 2024, making the stock "plummet one day before the assassination attempt" against the company's co-founder, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The company, which owns the Truth Social platform, saw an upward trend that started on July 10, 2024 -- three days…

Does a photo on social media show Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks wearing a yarmulke? No, that's not true: Representatives of the Congregation B'nai Abraham Synagogue in Butler, Pennsylvania, told Lead Stories they know the person in the photograph and that he's not Crooks. According to the congregation's statement, Crooks never "attended any event or service" at their synagogue. The…

Did the Sphere in Las Vegas show a "blue screen of death" or "BSoD" on July 19, 2024, during the global Windows outages caused by a CrowdStrike software defect? No, that's not true: The image on social media that makes this claim is doctored and has been circulating on the internet since at least 2023. The post also erroneously said…

Does video from the campaign rally where former President Donald Trump was shot show Janeen DiGuiseppi of the FBI? No, that's not true: The woman in the video is not DiGuiseppi, the FBI said. The FBI told Lead Stories that DiGuiseppi, assistant director of the Insider Threat Office at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was not at the rally. The…