Did the price of a barrel of oil increase from $25 a barrel to more than $61 a barrel in the three weeks since Joe Biden became president on January 20, 2021? No, that's not true: The price of oil has not been in the $25 range since May 13, 2020, when it closed at $25.29 a barrel. On Inauguration…

Does a "Welcome to Australia" road sign warn newcomers that they will be required to get a job and work for money if they want a good lifestyle? No, that's not true: The sign featured in this meme was photoshopped, a product of "Freedom of Speech Productions - Australian Right Wing Memes and News" in 2016 to present their point…

Did President Joe Biden sign a bill creating a 45% capital gains tax? No, that's not true: In order for the president to sign such a bill, both houses of Congress would have first have to have passed it. Lead Stories searched for such a bill on Congress. gov, which allows a user to track a bill's status. We found…

Did a regulatory freeze on "any new and pending rules" put in place by the Biden Administration on January 20, 2021 cause the price of insulin to increase? No, that's not true: Among Trump's executive orders President Biden froze for 90 days was one aimed at saving insulin users money. The Trump order was to have required federally approved health…

Has former President Donald Trump won "two-thirds of the cases that have been adjudicated by the courts" in his crusade to overturn the election result? That's only true if you leave out certain cases and add in others. The "two-thirds" claim ignores important context: Jonathan L. Entin, professor emeritus of law and an adjunct professor of political science at Case…

Did the United States go from the "highest" in exports of oil and natural gas to the "lowest" in one week during January 2021? No, that's not true: Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) do not support that claim. During the week in question, exports of crude oil and petroleum products did not fall; they actually rose. It's…

Was the fatal shooting of a woman at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, exposed as a Hollywood stunt? No, that's not true: The death of Ashli Babbitt during last month's riots is very much real. It was confirmed by authorities and her family. The suggestion that the event was staged relies entirely on conjecture and speculation; it has…

Was an interim military U.S. government installed in the days after a fake staged inauguration of Joe Biden was broadcast, and were 80 to 140 members of Congress arrested by the National Guard in the middle of the night on January 25, 2021, and did U.S. and Taiwanese fighter jets win a war with the Chinese Communist Party in a…

Does a newly discovered video show late-night deliveries of illegal ballots in Detroit, Michigan? No, that's not true: The ballots were legal votes. The 8 p.m. Election Day deadline was for casting ballots not counting them. The Michigan secretary of state's office told Lead Stories that what took place was "standard and appropriate practice." The claim appeared in an article…

Did Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. announce they have joined forces to create a new social media platform called "Trump Force One"? No, that's not true: Trump Jr. did ask Musk to create a new social media platform after Twitter and Facebook banned his father, former President Donald Trump, but there is no publicly available evidence that the SpaceX…

Did the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers refuse a congratulatory invitation to the White House because the team believes the election victory was "stolen" by the current administration? No, that's not true: This is a false claim made by a known satire website. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Buccaneers are invited to the White House when…

Does a photograph of the Oval Office show a corner wall coming apart in the room, proving that it is a "film set" and not in the White House? No, that's not true. A picture of President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shows a well-documented door in the round-shaped room is slightly ajar. The vertical line…

Does President Biden fly in a different Air Force One than Donald Trump did when he held office? No, that's not true: Biden rides in the same official aircraft as the former president. The sitting president usually uses two main aircraft designated as Air Force One, which is why some people online may think Biden's Air Force One is different…

Is President Joe Biden defunding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs? No, that's not true: This is a false claim made by a satire website. There is no publicly available evidence that President Biden plans to defund the VA. The claim originated from an article (archived here) where it was published by americaslastlineofdefense.com on January 4, 2021 under the headline…

Is President Biden about to send $3 trillion to Iran by plane to apologize for the drone strike that killed General Soleimaini last year? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made up stories that are clearly marked as satire when you actually click…

Was an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump foiled late in January 2021? No, that's not true: the source of the assassination story is a website with a history of publishing false claims and there has been no official confirmation or reporting from any reliable source . The Secret Service has formally denied to Lead Stories any of it…

By Dana Ford and Alexis Tereszcuk Does Mike Lindell's "Absolute Proof" video, which promises to expose election fraud, contain only factual and proven statements about the 2020 election? No, that's not true: The nearly two-hour video recycles familiar conspiracy theories, touching on claims that have been widely and repeatedly debunked. Among the disproven allegations are that dead people voted, that…

Did Vanity Fair feature Dr. Rachel Levine on the March 2021 cover of the magazine, and did Dr. Levine send a 'thank you' tweet to Vanity Fair expressing dreams of one day being President of the United States? No, that's not true: This photoshopped magazine cover is not real and was tweeted by a parody account on Twitter. The fake…

Was one of the FBI special agents killed in Florida the "top investigator for Hunter Biden's laptop"? No, there is no evidence that claim is true. Special Agent Daniel Alfin was killed on February 2, 2021, as he attempted to serve a court-ordered federal search warrant for a violent crimes against children investigation. There is no evidence that he was…

Does a photo show hundreds of people storming the U.S. Capitol building in 2018 during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearing? No, that's not true: The photo is from protests at the Wisconsin state capitol in 2011 -- seven years before the Kavanaugh hearings. The claim appeared as a post (archived here) published by Ted Nugent on Facebook on…