Blue Feed

Does a video posted on social media show Russian naval exercises off the coast of Florida in June 2024, as claimed in the post? No, that's not true: The missile launch test shown was performed from the White Sea in May 2018, not off the Florida coast in June 2024. The 2018 test was more than 5,000 miles from Florida.…

Did the U.S. Treasury building fly a Palestinian flag on June 16, 2024? No, that's not true: A representative for the U.S. Treasury responded to claims on X, saying it was "a pride flag." A search on Google News did not yield any evidence that would corroborate the claims. And one prominent person who posted one of the claims --…

Does a former listing on Ancestry.com that claimed that Joe Biden died in Guantanamo, Cuba, in 2018 prove the president is dead? No, that's not true: The listing, no longer available at the time of writing, appeared based on information from another site, FindAGrave.com, that allows the public to submit listings about individuals' burials and deaths. That earlier listing did…

Is it statistically impossible that Joe Biden added 600,000 votes in Pennsylvania overnight during the 2020 election count? No, that's not true: The Pennsylvania Department of State told Lead Stories that "This claim is misinformation." Both 2020 presidential candidates, Biden and then-President Donald Trump, added hundreds of thousands of votes in the overnight hours following the closure of polls on…

Did Jill Biden lead President Joe Biden out of the Normandy ceremony before it ended, as a post on social media implies? No, that's not true: The ceremony on June 6, 2024, honoring D-Day veterans at the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landings was ending when Biden and the first lady left the ceremony. French President Emmanuel Macron and…

Did Judge Juan M. Merchan tell jurors in the Donald Trump hush-money trial that they didn't have to reach a unanimous verdict? No, that's not true: The transcript of his instructions to the jury shows that Merchan said, "Your verdict, on each count you consider, whether guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous." Two law school faculty members rejected the…

Did Illinois legislators pass a bill to redefine all convicted criminals as "justice-impacted individuals"? No, that's missing context: An amendment to a bill renaming offenders "justice-impacted individuals" only applies to participants in the state's Adult Redeploy Illinois program, Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, one of the bill's sponsors, told Lead Stories. The name change does not apply to all people…

Did the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York in spring 2024, "show Trump behind bars" on social media? No, that's not true: The account that showed the image does not belong to Loren Merchan. It was created in 2023 after she made her X, formerly known as Twitter,…

Does a photo on social media show former President Donald Trump's May 23, 2024, political rally in the Bronx? No, that's not true: The image does not depict the New York City borough. Instead, it shows a 2008 campaign event in St. Louis by then-presidential nominee Barack Obama, which news reports at the time said drew 90,000 people. The claim…

Does a social media post show an authentic image of former President Donald Trump smiling at a cookout with Black supporters? No, that's not true: The image shows signs of being generated through artificial intelligence. The image also has not been featured in any legitimate online sources. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on May 23, 2024, on…

Did a jeering crowd chant "Fuck Joe Biden" at the president as he was leaving church with his granddaughter on Mother's Day? No, that's not true: The audio on this video clip has been edited to add the sound of an aggressive crowd chanting. In the original C-SPAN video there is no sound of a chanting crowd. One reporter called…

Does footage exist that shows President Joe Biden possibly naked with a girl? No, that's not true: The image shown in the social media post making that claim is not of Biden. Instead, it is a screenshot from a video that has appeared on pornographic websites under various titles since at least 2015. The claim appeared in a post on…

Did President Joe Biden award Rep. Nancy Pelosi a medal for being the "Greatest Trader In Congress"? No, that's not true: This video clip has been edited to display a fake NBC News chyron and to add a fake audio track. This video shows in reality the May 3, 2024, Presidential Medal of Freedom awards. Pelosi was among 19 recipients…

Is the 2020 presidential election tally in Fulton County, Georgia invalid on account of 300,000 missing ballot images? No, that's not true: The original paper ballots still exist and it's important to understand that the ballot image is not the vote but merely an electronic picture of the ballot for review purposes. Georgia election officials recounted the vote, including counting…

Did the Biden administration have unfettered access for a large portion of 2021 to Donald Trump's transition documents and papers that were later shipped from storage near Washington, D.C., to Mar-a-Lago in Florida? No, that's not true: The General Services Administration, which provides transition support for outgoing presidents, told Lead Stories that the documents were "accessible only to the former…

Did the Democratic Party propose to change the U.S. flag to "make it more inclusive," as of early May 2024? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence on the party's official platform website or social media channels, or in news coverage that the party had announced such intentions. A Google News search found no credible documents or reporting…

Does a video on social media show President Joe Biden "shaking hands" at a campaign stop with someone who is not there -- "a ghost," as the video puts it? No, that's not true: The video of Biden at an event in Florida does not show the large crowd he is gesturing at. But photos and videos from local and…

Did 46 of 50 states recount their votes from the 2020 election and confirm that Joe Biden lost the vote in their state? No, that's not true: There were four states that conducted recounts or had legal challenges of the 2020 presidential election results, and none overturned the results that Biden won the presidential election against Donald Trump in 2020.…

Did a Mexican nonprofit issue a flyer that features its logo and encourages migrants along the southern border of the U.S. to vote for President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: Gaby Zavala, the founder of the nonprofit, Resource Center Matamoros, told The Associated Press the organization does not know the origin of the flyers. She added that her group…

Did President Joe Biden give $16 billion of American money away to Iran in 2023? No, that's not true: First, it's important to say that the amount in question is $6 billion, not $16 billion. Secondly, the money wasn't U.S. taxpayer dollars to begin with; the funds were Iranian financial assets that had been frozen in South Korea due to…