Did CNN report that investigators believe the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was not inspired by Donald Trump, and did Democrats impeach Trump "before they had any information from investigators?" No, that's not true: CNN reported that investigators are looking into whether the riot was planned -- but there was no CNN reporting shifting responsibility away…

Were votes for Donald Trump deleted and switched to his opponent, Joe Biden? No, that's not true: There's zero evidence to support the claim. Dominion Voting Systems, independent experts and election officials have all, repeatedly, defended the integrity of the 2020 election, which has been described as the "most secure in American history." The claim appeared in a Facebook post…

Was an "irrational" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handcuffed by federal agents as they raided her office? No, that's not true. The story was published over a year ago 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 them. Articles from the…

Did Nancy Pelosi send an official letter urging Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland to go by the "Democratic play book" when dealing with protests and protest-related violence in his city? No, that's not true: Secretarial correspondence code indicates this is a doctored digital copy of an unrelated letter. Neither Speaker Pelosi nor her office sent a letter containing the contents…

Are these 57 counties of thousands in the United States "needed" to win the Electoral College? No, that's misleading: A map showing 14 states that include 57 populous counties as a potential path to 270 Electoral College votes is not correct -- those states and thereby the counties in them are not necessary to win the election. In 2016 Donald…

Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped at the U.S. border just before midnight on Saturday, January 9, 2021, and taken to an undisclosed location of face trial? No, that's not true: Pelosi was seen on the job in Congress on Monday, guiding the introduction of the second impeachment resolution against President Trump. Social media posts claiming Pelosi was arrested in…

Is Nancy Pelosi no longer Speaker of the House as the caption below a video claims? No, that's not true: Nancy Pelosi is still Speaker despite what the caption says below a viral Facebook video. The footage shows the opening of Pro Forma session of the House of Representatives on January 11, 2021 where a resolution was adopted asking Vice…

Was a laptop stolen from Nancy Pelosi's office when the Capitol was stormed? Yes, but without context, that fact is being used to support conspiracy theories about Pelosi's motivation for seeking the removal of President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the insurgent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Drew Hammill, the speaker's Deputy Chief of Staff,…

Did President Trump invoke or sign the Insurrection Act following the events of January 6, 2021 (or before that)? No, that's not true: President Trump has never made use of the Insurrection Act up to the time of writing of this article on January 11, 2021. In the wake of the events at the U.S. Capitol online, rumors started spreading…

Does a letter published by the chairman of a Nevada county Republican Central Committee, disputing the outcome of the presidential election, include evidence for the conspiracy theories proposed? No, that's not true: the widely viral article cites several unproven and disproven conspiracy theories, including "vote dumps", servers in Germany switching votes, President Trump escaping Washington on a "Doomsday" plane and…

Was radio host Rush Limbaugh suspended from Twitter in the wake of President Trump's suspension from the plaform? No, that's not true: in an email to Lead Stories, Twitter has confirmed it was the user behind the @RealRLimbaugh account who deleted it. At the time of writing there is no statement about the deletion on Limbaugh's site but it is…

Did the FBI confirm it was antifa activists, not Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol? No, that's not true: A claim has gone viral that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed antifascist activists, known as antifa, were the ones who invaded the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. The FBI has made no such statement about…

Did police withhold tear gas when insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: There has been criticism of the police response to the rioters and the chief of Capitol police resigned in the aftermath of the chaos, but tear gas was used on the mob of Trump supporters who interrupted Congress' ceremonial counting…

Did one of the people who stormed into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, have a communist hammer and sickle tattoo on his hand? No, that's not true: The man pictured inside the Capitol building has been identified by Lead Stories as Will Watson, and additional photos of his hands show that his tattoo is from the video…

Did a photo show Michiel Vos, son-in-law of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, meeting the shirtless, horned QAnon supporter who was widely mistaken for an Antifa activist during the January 6 events and is that a sign the two were in cahoots somehow? No, that's not true: the photo showing Vos next to Jake Angeli (aka "QAnon Shaman") was…

Does security camera video from Fulton County, Georgia, show an election worker on November 3, 2020, improperly scanning the same ballots multiple times? And were media representatives and other observers told to go home before this scanning took place following a water main break? No, those claims are not true: The director of registration and elections in Fulton County told…

Did "Stefan Serafini," a purported foreign service officer in Rome, work with Barack Obama, former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and others to rig the 2020 election? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to support the international conspiracy theory that, among other claims, recycles debunked claims that software was used to flip votes in favor of Joe Biden. Almost…

Were the protesters who committed violence in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, really antifa activists dressing up as Trump supporters? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available evidence that the people who stormed the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. were antifa activists. National media outlets identified protesters as QAnon and Trump supporters after claims surfaced…

Did an antifa member post a video confessing that he was paid to protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: The man in the video making the claim posted another video admitting that it was a joke and that his "Antifa" means "anti-fart," because they are "smelly." The claim originated in a video posted…

Is this man photographed storming the U.S. Capitol in fur and horns an antifa activist working to make supporters of President Donald Trump look bad? No, that's not true: The man in the photo is a well-known QAnon supporter who has been identified as Jake Angeli, nicknamed "QAnon Shaman" for his face paint, bare chest and tattoos. Angeli has given…