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Did a child get shot, "no questions asked"? And are all the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, still alive? No, that's not true: A post compares the death of a Black teenager, who was shot by police in Columbus, Ohio, to the treatment of "mostly armed white nationalists" by Capitol Police. It's correct that both…

Would a proposed Florida bill make a transgender student athlete "drop her pants" to prove she's a girl before playing on a Florida school sports team? No, that's not true. Both versions of the bill in Florida (a state House bill and a state Senate version) provide for either genetic testing or testing of a child's endogenously produced testosterone levels…

Did all the rioters at the U.S. Capitol survive their encounters with Capitol Police during the January 6, 2021 assault? No, that's not true: Ashli Babbitt, one of the rioters, was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer while breaking into the lobby of the House of Representatives' chamber. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) by Occupy…

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene scrub her Twitter account of support of Rep. Matt Gaetz? No, that's not true: Greene's Twitter is still full of tweets supporting Gaetz. The claim originated in a Facebook post (deleted as of April 13, 2021) where it was published by The National Strategic Stockpile of Memes and Satire on April 5 2021. It read:…

Did Ted Cruz say "the Alien Invasion Is orchestrated" in a quote about "illegals" who arrive at the southern border of the United States? No, Cruz did not make the comments. A viral message about the appearances of the people trying to cross into the U.S. at the southern border was not made by Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas.…

Did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife charter buses for January 6, 2021, protesters in Washington, D.C.? No, there is no proof of that. Justice Thomas's wife, Ginni Thomas, did promote the rally that evolved into protesters storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, but there have been no documents or witnesses to support a claim that…

Does Georgia's new voting law make it a "jail-time crime to drop off grandma's absentee ballot"? No, that's not true: Although it is a felony to take an absentee ballot from a voter and deliver or return it, the law carves out various exceptions. Those exceptions include family members, such as parents, siblings and grandchildren. The claim appeared in a…

Did former President Donald Trump start a new social media platform called "DJTUP Uncensored Platform Uniting People"? No, there is no publicly available evidence it is Trump's. Former President Donald Trump did announce the launch of his website called 45office.com on Monday March 29, 2021, and a spokesman talked about Trump's plans to start his own social media platform in…

Did President Donald Trump indict Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on his last day in office? No, that's not true. The claim was made without proof and the U.S. Constitution reserves indictment power to grand juries, not presidents. Barrett was, in fact, Trump's pick for the Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Barrett took the oath of…

Did the Atlanta spa shootings happen hours after a Donald Trump interview on Fox News? No, that's not true: Although they took place on the same day, March 16, 2021, Trump's interview, in which he referred to COVID-19 as "the China virus", aired after the Atlanta-area shootings that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent. The claim…

Is there something mysterious about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's net worth multiplying eight-fold from $2,962,015 in 2005 to $23,965,520 in 2015 on a salary of $193,400 a year? No, that's not true: The Republican from Kentucky did see a dramatic increase in his net worth, but context is missing from a post questioning the increase. Both Senate disclosure documents…

Does this photo show people praying over, or even "worshipping" a golden, life-sized graven image of former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: It is an altered photo. The actual photo, taken January 3, 2020, shows a group of Trump supporters, eyes closed with outstretched hands, praying over the actual president at an "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition event in…

Did Ted Cruz lose all his Marriott points? No, that's not true: The story making the claim about the Texas senator is satirical. It wasn't meant to be real, although some social media users appeared to take it as such. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published in the "Laughing in Disbelief" section on patheos.com on February 21,…

Did Ted Cruz say "I'll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence the Texas senator ever said that. The source for the claim is a fake tweet, made to look like it's from Cruz. The tweet is not on Cruz's verified accounts, nor could it be found on a website that tracks…

In defending Ted Cruz' ill-timed vacation in Cancun, did Donald Trump Jr. flub it and say Texas' Republican governor is a Democrat? No, that's not true. Trump Jr.'s tweet about Texas Sen. Cruz leaving Texas for Cancun amid a winter storm disaster is the teaser to a video in which Trump Jr. lambastes Cruz critics who aren't equally critical of…

Did megachurch pastor and televangelist Joel Osteen not open his "18,000-seat" Lakewood Church during freezing, icy weather in Houston, declining to help people left without shelter or heat and power? No, that's not true: Lakewood Church opened its facilities to help people left without heat and power. The rare harsh weather has overwhelmed Texas' electrical power system. Houston news media…

Is it true that Fox News Channel did not air the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday, February 10, 2021? No, that's not true: Fox News aired the impeachment from the beginning at 12 p.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST, and then cut away at 5 p.m. to air the network's "The Five" panel talk show. While the proceedings were on Fox…

Did Mike Lindell say Capitol rioters were "drugged by antifa sluts"? No, that's not true: The claim was made in an article posted to a satire website with completely made-up quotes from Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow. The claim appeared as an article (archived here) where it was published by The Business News Standard on February 5, 2021, under the…

Did former President Donald Trump say, "Poor Kids are just as bright and talented as White kids"? No, that's not true:Then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden made the comment in 2019 while campaigning in Iowa. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published February 2, 2021, which opened: "Poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids."…

Did U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene say, "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us?" No, that's not true: There is no evidence the Republican freshman from Georgia ever made that comment. It is a quote that is often attributed to the first female governor of Texas, Miriam Amanda "Ma" Ferguson, who was elected in 1924,…