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Did former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warn President Donald Trump that he should not think that "the Mossad alone has a video archive of his past depravities"? No, that's not true: The quote was attributed to "Russia media" by a website that claims to be in Israel, but appears to be managed in Ukraine. Lead Stories could find no evidence…

Did President Trump name his former CFO Allen Weisselberg to be director of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics? No, that's not true: A fake news release making the claim was created by the AI tool Grok as a joke and then shared on X hours after Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, as head of the federal agency that reports employment…

Does an image of a large addition that replaces the West Wing and the west colonnade of the White House accurately show what the new ballroom will look like? No, that's not true: The official renderings show the ballroom adjacent to the East Wing, with the east colonnade intact. The fake rendering shared on social media shows the ballroom replacing…

Did the Federal Bureau of Prisons' inmate search database say that Ghislaine Maxwell was "Not in BOP custody" on Friday, August 1, 2025? Yes, that's true: A search for Maxwell by Lead Stories at 2 p.m. EDT showed a page that indicated she was not in the custody of the federal prison system. A statement from the BOP to Lead…

Is a "newly leaked" photo of Jeffrey Epstein with his arm around Melania Trump authentic as claimed in a social media post? No, that's not true: The original photo was Epstein holding his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, but the image was reversed and Trump's head was digitally added to replace Maxwell's. The photo of Epstein and Maxwell was released by the…

Did President Donald Trump post a meme of him and Vice President Vance in police cars chasing Barack Obama in a white Bronco on a freeway? Yes, that's true: The meme was created from a real photo of Los Angeles police chasing O.J. Simpson on a freeway on June 17, 1994. It was altered to include Obama's head in place…

Does a viral image really show Hulk Hogan posing in front of caged migrants at "Alligator Alcatraz"? No, that's not true: The image is composed of two different pictures. One showed a Border Patrol facility in Texas in 2019 and the other showed a promotional picture of Hulk Hogan from 2014. The image originally appeared in an Instagram post (archived…

Did White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt write a post on X about the age of consent that, in part, said that "Mary was as young as 12 when she gave birth to Jesus"? No, that's not true: Her account didn't show such a post and a viral image pretending to be a screenshot of it appears to be fake.…

Did Mel Gibson post a message on his X account vowing to expose pedophiles and human traffickers in Hollywood, including "Epstein's network and the Diddy connections"? No, that's not true: Gibson does not have an X.com account, or any social media accounts, his publicist told Lead Stories. The account that posted the message was created in 2024 and only has…

Did President Trump incorrectly identify Ferdinand Marcos as the current president of the Philippines in a July 22, 2025, Truth Social post? No, that's not true: Ferdinand Marcos Jr., better known as Bongbong, was sworn in as the Philippines' 17th president on June 30, 2022. A social media post calling Trump a "demented buffoon" for claiming he just met with…

Did U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi say that the Epstein file is "too graphic to release" and did Fox News air a report about that supposed comment? No, none of that is true: The image with the purported quote originated from a self-described satire page. The picture contained multiple comically misspelled words, including the channel's name. The claim appeared in…

Did Barron Trump announce, as a social media post claims, that he's dating Sasha Obama and that she "will be his one and only wife"? No, that's not true: The TikTok video says the announcement put Barron's father, President Donald Trump, in the hospital, a made-up event corroborated by no credible information sources. A president disappearing from his announced-in-advance schedule…

Does a viral image match the description of the birthday note Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein as given in a July 17, 2025 Wall Street Journal story? No, that's not true: Several elements in the image do not match the description in the article, such as the location of the text relative to the drawing and missing elements in…

Did politician Matt Gaetz post on X about "momentary lapses of judgement from decades ago" in relation to "prepubescent girls" and the "Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot of such a post originated on a Reddit subforum ironically named "TOTALLYREALTWEETS". It was posted by a user whose bio read "fake tweet writer" and the text in the…

Does this image show a letter with a drawing described in the Wall Street Journal as being made by President Donald Trump for Jeffrey Epstein's birthday? No, that's not true: The image was published by an account on X that described it as an "artist's recreation". The Journal's original article did not contain a depiction of the image and none…

Did Donald Trump post on Truth Social that he was never on Jeffrey Epstein's plane or his "stupid" Island? Yes, that's true: Trump's Truth Social timeline still displays the message shared on January 9, 2024. Some X users insisted Trump never made the statement, including the author of a proposed community note. The true claim that Trump posted the message…

Did a video show U.S. President Donald Trump stealing the winner's medal of a player after the football Club World Cup Final in July 2025? No, that's not true: The medal in Trump's hands was earlier given to him by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. A widely-shared clip was edited to cut out the moment when the president received the medal…

Did Hugh Hefner say that Donald Trump was not allowed in the Playboy mansion after he found out he was a 'pedophilie'? No, that's not true: There is no published record of Hefner saying he considered Trump to be a pedophile, or that he had been banned by his Los Angeles mansion. Trump did visit the mansion as recently as…

Did Chelsea FC photoshop President Trump out of their official trophy raising photo after the FIFA Club World Cup final? No, that's not true: A viral image that was digitally edited to remove Trump from the scene did not appear on the soccer club's official social media accounts. The image they actually posted does show Trump in the background. The…

Did a Mexican search and rescue team sent to the scene of the July 2025 flooding in Kerr County, Texas rescue a sheriff's daughter, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Although Mexican rescue crews were in fact sent to help when Independence Day rain caused flash flooding along the Guadalupe River, there is no publicly available documentation…