Blue Feed

Did Joe Biden say that he was not the president? Yes, but he said it before he was elected president: During a campaign rally in March 2020, Biden, who was responding to hecklers, said that he was not the president at the time, which was true because the incumbent was then-President Donald Trump. The claim appeared in a manipulated video…

Would a ballot initiative proposed in Oregon ban all animal meat and replace it with "'synthetic meat'" and "lab 'plant based protein'" that are "lab grown Petri dish vats of cells"? No, that's not true: Animal meat alternatives -- which are plant-based, not cell-based -- would not replace animal meat if Oregon voters adopted Initiative Petition 13. The proposed IP13…

Did a Democratic Pennsylvania state representative create a bill that enforces reproductive responsibility for men by requiring vasectomies for some "inseminators" and by offering a $10,000 reward for reporting "scofflaws" who don't submit? Yes, that's true, but an October 2, 2021, memorandum of co-sponsorship sent out by Democratic state Rep. Chris Rabb was extravagantly written, tipping off readers his was…

Does the 2021 infrastructure bill include a $6,500 tax on dairy cows, $2,600 per head tax on beef cows and $500 per head tax on swine? No, that's not true: There is no such language in the infrastructure legislation, according to the publicly available text. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on September 28, 2021. It opens:…

Is the Biden administration implementing a per-mile "driving tax" that would charge U.S. drivers an estimated eight cents per mile? No, that's not true: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has not passed at the time of writing, only details a pilot program for a vehicle-miles traveled fee (VMT fee). Additional legislation would have to be passed to implement…

Did the Arizona audit show that Donald Trump won the state? No, that's not true: The audit in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous county, showed that Joe Biden beat Trump there by nearly 45,000 votes. That edge contributed to Biden's victory in the state as a whole, where he won by close to 10,500 votes. The claim appeared in a…

Did ballots in Arizona show "VERIFIED AND APPROVED" stamps behind a black triangle, meaning that the image was fake or not a valid ballot? No, that's not true: The image shown during the presentation of the Maricopa County election audit was an inversed image made by the scanner, the Office of Maricopa County Records told Lead Stories. The claim appeared…

Are "duplicate ballots" in Maricopa County, Arizona, proof of voter fraud? No, that's not true: "Duplicate ballots" or ballot envelopes don't prove duplicate votes. If a voter sends back a mail-in ballot and the signature on the envelope is questioned, or there is no signature, election officials will work to cure that signature by contacting the voter. If the issue…

Did President Joe Biden order the Veterans Administration to withhold health benefits from unvaccinated military veterans? No, that's not true: This is a satirical article published by a self-described satire website. There have been no presidential orders or announcements that would cause the VA to stop health benefits for otherwise qualified veterans. We are pointing this out because the spoof…

Is the message some citizens received at one Los Angeles County voting center -- that a county computer indicated they had already voted -- evidence that Republican votes were stolen in California's gubernatorial recall election? No, that's not true: Election officials said iPads used by poll workers to check voter registrations held outdated information and had to be reset. Officials…

Did Vice President Kamala Harris "admit" that COVID-19 vaccines don't work? No, that's not true: Her tweet that is the basis for the claim is a summary of public health recommendations that reflect reality: No vaccine is 100% effective and breakthrough infections of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, however mild among vaccinated persons, have been documented and could result in…

Do President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden own 10% of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd (CATL), a leading lithium-ion battery development and manufacturing company based in China, a country with financial interests in Afghanistan lithium? No, that's not true: According to public financial documents, the elder Bidens are not financially linked to CATL. However, because of his equity…

Did 351,709 votes that had been cast to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom mysteriously vanish during a live CNN broadcast of the California election night results when about half of the votes had been counted? No, that's not true: There was a data entry error made by a staffer of Edison Research Polling, which falsely inflated the count of the…

Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spend thousands of dollars for her dress and her ticket to the Met Gala 2021, held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art? No, that's not true: according to her communications director, Ocasio-Cortez's dress, which displayed the slogan "Tax The Rich," was borrowed. And a spokesperson for the Met confirmed that Ocasio-Cortez attended the event as a…

Did the president of the United States refuse to pay to fly the body of Sgt. Ryan Knauss, killed in the August 2021 Kabul airport bombing, to Arlington National Cemetery? No, that's not true: The president is not responsible for decisions regarding the burial of soldiers. "That is not within the president's purview," says the director of the civilian funeral…

Was Jill Biden arrested at Tyler Perry's house in Atlanta on charges of elder abuse? No, that's not true: A video does not show President Joe Biden's wife being arrested. Claims that Jill Biden was arrested are completely made up. The first lady has been seen in public multiple times since the date when it was claimed she was arrested.…

Has an Arizona Republican's door-knocking campaign and back-of-the-envelope estimate proved there were "173,104 lost votes and 96,389 ghost votes" in Maricopa County's 2020 election? No, that's not true: Even if every person answering every door told the truth and every canvasser entered their answers correctly, the real estate agent's claim uses rough reckoning, not field-tested methods of extrapolation. The Maricopa…

Did the military raid Hunter Biden's home in California on August 30, 2021? No, that's not true: A duty officer at the Pentagon verified with Lead Stories that it's false. Also, this could not have been possible as the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the U.S. military from enforcing domestic laws, and Lead Stories has previously debunked multiple contentions published by…

Did the United States leave behind military working dogs in cages in Afghanistan? No, that's not true: "No military working dogs were left behind," the Pentagon told Lead Stories. The photograph of dogs in cages at the Hamid Karzai International Airport were dogs that were under the care of an animal rescue organization, not the U.S. military. The claim appeared…

Did the military arrest Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, on August 30, 2021? No, that's not true: It is not even possible, as the Posse Comitatus Act makes it a federal crime to use the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement. Also, the claim is made on a website known for publishing false assertions and that…