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Did Donald Trump say "144,000 Black people with superpower godlike abilities" are the "chosen ones", as a TikTok video claims? No, that's not true: In a viral clip on social media, the original sound from an NBC interview was replaced by AI-generated audio. The counterfeit video uses footage from a 2017 interview in which Trump talked about firing FBI Director…

Did Donald Trump say in a speech that there would be a "bloodbath" if he weren't elected in November 2024? Yes, that's true, here's more context: The former American president used the term on March 16, 2024, while campaigning in Vandalia, Ohio, in a speech that painted a dire picture of the country if Joe Biden were to win a…

Did U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hold a sign reading "Honk if you want a bloodbath" alongside Trump supporters gathered on a roadside? No, that's not true: The video purporting to document that has been edited to add a sign that was not there. The original footage was published before Donald Trump's "bloodbath" remarks on March 16, 2024. It was…

Did U.S. Marines arrest U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and her husband, Robert Kagan? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that the information in this claim is "false." This claim also appears on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by…

Did United States Marines arrest two United States Customs and Border Protection Patrol agents for accepting bribes from immigrants for entry into the United States on February 19, 2024? No, that's not true: This claim appeared on a website that publishes fabricated content. Also, the United States Marine Corps does not have jurisdiction to arrest customs and border patrol officials.…

Does video footage show Donald Trump shoving a man at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort the former president calls home? No, that's not true: Another video of the incident makes clear it was a friendly pat. Additionally, the man who was allegedly "shoved" by Trump debunked the claim, writing "[H]e patted me on the back and walked away." The claim was…

Did Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicate that Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, will have to pay back the Saudi government $2 billion if Trump isn't reelected in 2024? No, there's no evidence that's true: The claim appears to be based on a tweet that cites a 2023 FOX News interview with Prince Mohammed. In…

Is a photo posted on social media showing Taylor Swift wearing a T-shirt with an anti-Trump slogan on it authentic? No, that's not true: The image has been digitally altered. The original photos of Swift with a flowered headband in her hair were taken on the red carpet of the Time 100 Gala at Lincoln Center in New York City…

Did Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Habba say that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan took a $5 million bribe to convict Trump? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Habba ever accused Kaplan of taking a bribe to convict the former president. Kaplan did not "convict Trump" in the case in question -- a jury decided in January 2024…

Does the fact that Mitt Romney's private investment income surpasses his U.S. Senate salary prove that he is "corrupt"? No, that's not true: The Utah senator, a Republican, discloses his legal sources of income via U.S. Senate financial disclosures and as a former venture capitalist, accumulated his vast wealth before he became a senator. The fact that his investments provide…

Did Donald Trump say the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were the "work of the United States" during a New Hampshire campaign stop in January 2024? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence or statement from the former president making such a claim. Trump's comments as claimed in a social media post were either faked, taken out of context…

Did Donald Trump post on Truth Social that his attorney in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case "may not have the experience that was needed in this very high profile case" but "she stood her ground"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this post about attorney Alina Habba originated on the real Truth Social account of former…

Is President Joe Biden the first person to win a presidential primary as a write-in candidate? No, that's not true: Several people have won presidential primaries as write-in candidates, with such victories dating back to at least the early 20th century. Others won the New Hampshire presidential primary specifically as write-in candidates long before Biden. The claim appeared in a…

Did Donald Trump brag on social media about boxing sessions with Muhammad Ali, the now-deceased legendary athlete known as Cassius Clay in the early days of his career? No, that's not true: The former president's social media accounts didn't say anything about it. The account that initially shared an image of the supposed Trump post publicly stated that the story…

Did a Republican state legislator in Kentucky support a bill that would "make sex with first cousin not incest"? No, that's not true: Although a draft of the bill struck out "first cousin" as a category included in Kentucky's incest statute, Nick Wilson, the state legislator in question, said that the edit was a mistake. The actual purpose of the…

Do social media reactions to video showing Republicans putting ballots in a brown paper bag during the Iowa Caucus correctly assume an absence of election integrity measures at the caucus? No, that is not true: Kelley Koch, the Republican chair of Dallas County, where the votes in the video were being tallied, told Lead Stories the ballots are preprinted with…

Did the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division arrest a staffer of 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Iowa in January 2024? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that a Haley staffer was arrested, purportedly for handing out prepaid gift cards in exchange for votes for Haley in the Iowa caucus. The website where this claim appeared is known…

Is a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump sitting next to each other on a private jet an authentic picture? No, that's not true: The image of the financier convicted of prostitution crimes and the former president of the United States is not authentic. It is an AI-generated image, as an online detection tool showed. Epstein and Trump were…

Did Donald Trump endorse a "$6,400 bonus" scheme before Christmas 2023? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could not find any evidence that the former president ever made any of the comments in a video making the claim, and it appears to be an AI-generated voice making the statements. There is no such federal program at the time of writing.…

Was Donald Trump's real voice used in a video endorsing a documentary warning that 300 million Americans will die in an attack on the power grid in a matter of weeks? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Trump ever made the statements in the video. A search of Trump's campaign website and of Google's index of thousands…