Did President Trump invoke the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as he signed the Covid-19 Relief Bill, forcing Congress to rescind section 230, cut wasteful spending, and to add $2,000 stimulus checks for all Americans? No, that's not true: The Impoundment Control Act does not force Congress to do anything. It was passed in 1974 as a way to limit…

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…

Is Joe Biden a war hero, a Rhodes Scholar and a Harvard law school graduate? No, he is not any of those. The claims that the president-elect did hold those distinctions was part of a satirical meme intended to test fact checkers. It was not a tough call, since Lead Stories quickly concluded it is not misleading or false --…

Did the AT&T data center in Nashville, Tennessee, damaged by a Christmas morning bomb have a contract to audit Dominion voting machines? No, that's not true: An AT&T spokesman confirmed to Lead Stories via email there is no such contract. We've also been unable to find any documentation that any company has a contract to audit voting machines. The claim…

Did authorities release an image of the RV that exploded in Nashville on December 25, 2020 that showed comedian Sam Hyde behind the wheel? No, that's not true: blaming the comedian for being the perpetrator of all sorts of terror attacks, shootings etc. has become a strange in-joke among trolls on the internet and it happens almost every time there…

Are a couple of tweets and a link to a website named lacountyarrestrecords.com solid evidence Adam Schiff was arrested by the FBI at LAX Airport on December 24, 2020? No, that's not true: tweets are not solid evidence and there is no reason FBI arrests would show up on a website claiming to show county arrest records. The website itself…

Did 14 U.S. military generals say they would never take orders for President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: The claim was made in a satirical article published by the ALLOD network of websites that troll conservatives, hoping to trick them into sharing false claims. The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by DailyWorldUpdate.us on November 19, 2020…

Does an advertising video titled "The Plot To Steal America" contain hard evidence of election fraud? No, that's not true: the 18-minute pitch contains allegations based on video clips purporting to show "evidence" but several of these clips do not actually show what is being claimed. The announcer repeats 11 already-debunked claims in the opening five minutes, then tells viewers…

Are instant noodles coated with a wax used in Styrofoam packaging that could cause cancer? No, that's not true: Labels of popular brands of instant noodles don't show wax among the ingredients and makers of such products have refuted wax-coated noodle claims for years. Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration regulates food ingredients and packaging, aimed at ensuring a safe…

Was this photo of a total solar eclipse taken by NASA on December 14, 2020? No, that's not true: While there was a total solar eclipse on December 14, 2020, which cast a shadow on a narrow band of the southern end of South America, visible in Chile and Argentina, this image has nothing to do with it. This image…

Are coronavirus vaccines primarily designed to improve survival rates of those already infected? No, that's not true: Vaccines are designed to reduce the risk of infection in the first place. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published by Chad Prather on December 18, 2020. The post read: How will we know the vaccine is working? Will the…

Do variants of the MTHFR gene cause disease and increase the likelihood of vaccine reactions? No, that's not true: In rare circumstances, a MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) gene variant causes neural tube defects in newborn babies. Other times, it can cause elevelated levels of homocysteine, which can lead to blood clots. Otherwise, there are no scientific studies linking MTHFR gene variants,…

Is this Joel Osteen's house? No, that's not true: The sprawling mansion, shown in a Facebook post, is not Joel and Victoria Osteen's River Oaks, Texas, home. It is the Hidden Hills, California, home of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, according to published reports. The related claims about Osteen's taxes and federal aid are made vaguely and without evidence and…

Did Joe Biden say "this country is doomed" because non-Hispanic white people will become a minority share of the U.S. population in the near future? No, that's not true: This is a deceptively edited clip. He did say those words, but the rest of the words he spoke -- edited out for a TikTok post -- make it clear he…

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.…

Did the members of Congress give themselves a pay raise as part of the spending bills aimed at stimulating the economy and providing relief to those harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic? No, that's not true: The claim is posted without evidence. The omnibus spending bill passed December 22, 2020, only mentions congressional pay in a section that prohibits a pay…

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)…

Do COVID-19 vaccines contain the HIV virus? No, that's not true: The Food and Drug Administration briefing documents for the recently approved Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines do not list HIV as an ingredient in either product. The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) posted on Twitter on December 17, 2020, which began, "Why is HIV in the vaccine?"…

Does the "new stimulus bill" include funding for the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center and more? No, that's not true: Funds for the Smithsonian and other cultural institutions were not part of the $900 billion COVID stimulus and relief package. They were part of the $1.4 trillion spending plan passed by the House and Senate to continue government operations through September 2021.…

Did Instagram institute a new set of policies on December 20, 2020, that remarkably changed the way the platform operates and that opens users up to a type of surveillance never seen before? No, that's not true: Instagram's new terms of service that went into effect on December 20, 2020, represent a clarification, but not a big change in the…