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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…

Did Michelle Obama register to vote as a man in 1994 in Illinois? No, that's not true: A public information officer at the Illinois State Board of Elections told Lead Stories that this claim is inaccurate. The document that is supposedly the former first lady's voter registration record did not come from the Board as an article falsely claims, and…

Did the Supreme Court finally sign a verdict to impeach Speaker Pelosi? No, that's not true: The clickbait headline for a video that shows multiple republican lawmakers speaking but makes no mention of an impeachment of Pelosi and offers no evidence that it happened. The Supreme Court does not have the power to impeach a legislator, only the U.S. House…

Do differences between an unofficial election data stream provided by Edison Research and official sources prove "Something Is Very Wrong" with the 2020 election results? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that anything is wrong with the official data even if there were problems with the privately supplied data results from Edison, which delivers unofficial vote tallies to…

Does this clip show election fraud happening on live television? No, that's not true: Edison Research, the sole provider of Election Day data to the National Election Pool, which provides numbers to news organizations, told Lead Stories the vote change cited in the post was due to a typo in Henderson County, Kentucky. The error was caught and corrected within…

Did The Washington Post publish an article by Hunter Biden titled "New Studies Show Moderate Crack Cocaine Use Not A Cause For Concern"? No, that's not true: The headline of an article purporting to be on the Washington Post website is fake. A search of the newspaper's website yields "0 results" for the headline. The addition of Hunter Biden as…

Was it impossible or difficult for then-President Donald Trump to reach the steering wheel of the vehicle he was riding in on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: The fortified SUV transporting him did not have a glass partition between the front and back seats, so there was nothing that would have prevented him from reaching for the steering…