Blue Feed

Does a video of Sen. Ted Cruz questioning current FBI Director Christopher Wray or former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe expose either man in a lie about the circumstances surrounding the August 8, 2022, search of Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video of Cruz is spliced together from separate congressional hearings…

Did a social media video contain authentic audio recordings of a Secret Service agent bemoaning President Joe Biden's difficulty in putting on his jacket? No, that's not true: The video was a satirical clip originally posted online by a comedian and labeled with the hashtag #comedy. The video first appeared in an August 10, 2022, TikTok post (archived here) published…

Was a woman found dead in the Arkansas River linked to the "suspicious death" of former Clinton advisor Mark Middleton? No, that's not true: A report in radaronline.com quoted an anonymous source -- purportedly an associate of Middleton's -- to link Ashley Haynes and Middleton. The alleged link first appeared in a radaronline.com article, and nowhere else, on May 27,…

Are the 30 percent of signatures that did not qualify for the recall of the Los Angeles County district attorney the same as ballots rejected in the 2020 election? No, the claim is missing context: Nothing stops an unqualified person from signing a petition to have an issue placed on a ballot. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk verifies that…

Does a video show election workers in Clark County, Washington, illegally closing ballot drop boxes "30 minutes prior" to the voting close time, insinuating that there is fraudulent activity involved with voter mail-in ballots? No, that's not true: The video shows a certified election worker giving a voter the appropriate legal options to submit their mail-in ballot. The Clark County…

Did former President Barack Obama take 30 million pages of documents, including some secret nuclear papers, from the White House to Chicago when he left the presidency and then refuse to return them? No, that's not true: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) did ship 30 million pages of documents to a secure NARA facility in Chicago, but they…

Is a photograph real that shows Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, partying with the judge who approved the FBI warrant to search former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence? No, that's not true: It's been altered. The original photo, previously published by several media outlets in December 2021, shows Maxwell with Epstein, not the judge. The claim appeared…

Is Congress considering a bill that would cut $300 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare, former President Barack Obama's health care law? No, that's not true: The Inflation Reduction Act, which was introduced by congressional Democrats, was passed in the Senate through the reconciliation process on August 7, 2022. If it became law, the measure would reduce some drug costs…

Did "U.S. Army Special Forces" arrest Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on August 6, 2022? No, that's not true: "There is no truth to this claim," a duty officer at the Pentagon told Lead Stories. The U.S. military is not allowed to arrest civilians under the Posse Comitatus Act. In addition, these claims were posted on…

Was George Soros banned from Hungary, his birth country? No, that's not true: According to a communications director at the Open Society Foundations, where George Soros is the founder and the chair, as of this writing he has not been banned from Hungary. The claim appeared in a Facebook post with a video on August 3, 2022, under the title…

Did Amazon's Alexa offer this reply: "Joe Biden died in National Naval Medical Center" when asked: "Where did Joe Biden fall off his bicycle?" Yes, for several days in late July 2022, Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa responded to that specific question with a perplexing answer. But President Joe Biden did not die in July 2022. He fell off his bicycle…

Was President Joe Biden caught in a child predator sting by NBC "Dateline" host Chris Hansen and a decoy pretending to be a 13-year-old girl? No, that's not true: This video mashup uses clips from two unrelated videos that were filmed more than a decade apart to fabricate a dialogue. Some of the footage is from a 2007 "Dateline" segment…

Were antifa and federal agents behind the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol? No, that's not true: Supporters of former President Donald Trump were behind the January 6, 2021, attack. Claims that antifa members were responsible have been repeatedly and widely debunked. The recycled allegation appeared in an Instagram post on July 22, 2022. The post includes a short video…

Did Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, say that gender-affirmation surgery should be available to kids in an interview? No, that's not true: While Levine did support gender-affirming treatment, such treatment is an umbrella term that does not necessarily mean surgery. The claim was implied in a Facebook post on July…

Did Dominion voting machines fail testing for a primary recount in the race for Colorado secretary of state? No, that's not true: Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado secretary of state's office and the El Paso County clerk and recorder's office all told Lead Stories that the machines passed testing. "This system did exactly as it should, worked properly, and the…

Did Greenpeace put a banner on Trump Tower in Las Vegas on July 28, 2022? No, that's not true: This is a doctored image. A Greenpeace representative told Lead Stories that they did not place this banner on Trump Tower in Las Vegas. Lead Stories has debunked another image by this Twitter user in the past. The claim appeared in…

Did the U.S. military convict and vote to execute Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the Pentagon told Lead Stories the story was "completely false." The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs told Lead Stories the claim was not true. The claim was published on a satire website that is known for concocting purely…

Can people receiving government benefits get a free smartphone directly through the government? No, that's not true: There is no government program that directly offers a free smartphone. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does oversee programs that offer discounts for broadband and wireless services for eligible, low-income people. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on July 17, 2022.…

Did the 1994 crime bill put over a million Black men in prison? No, that's not true: The Biden administration announced a plan in late July 2022 that, similar to the 1994 crime bill, would increase police funding and aim to crack down on crime. However, there is no evidence that the 1994 crime bill alone led to the incarceration…

Did former President Barack Obama say, "Gotta have them ribs and pussy, too"? Yes, that's true, but he was quoting someone from a book he wrote. He wasn't expressing his own opinion. The 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," explores the events of his early years in Honolulu and Chicago until his entry into…