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…

Had Joe Biden resigned the presidency as of June 28, 2022? No, that's not true. There was no such announcement from the White House, nor any reporting from credible outlets. The claim appeared in a Facebook video posted June 27, 2022 under the title "JOE BIDEN JUST RESIGNED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE". This is what the post looked like on…

Is a Mayo Clinic doctor misdiagnosing Trump supporters' healthy pregnancies? No, that's not true: The tweet making the claim originated from a fake account and this claim has been refuted by the Mayo Clinic since 2018. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on the account of the conservative Young America's Foundation on June 14, 2022. The caption opens: Sickening.…

Was John F. Kennedy Jr., preparing to make an announcement about his candidacy for U.S. senator of New York right before his death? No, that's not true: Although reports have suggested that Kennedy was considering running for the Senate seat, there was no indication that, before his death in July 1999, he was about to announce his candidacy. Consequently, the…

Did the U.S. inflation rate hit an all-time high in 2022? No, that's not true: While inflation, as measured by the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), is at a high level of 8.0 percent in June 2022, a dozen other years have had higher inflation rates since the CPI was first calculated in 1913. The all-time record of 17.8 percent…

Was Dominion voting machine "manipulation" responsible for 2022 primary election problems In DeKalb County, Georgia? No, that's not true: The Georgia secretary of state's office says it was a mistake in programming the machines for a single countywide seat on the Democratic side of the ticket, not in the machines themselves. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published…

Is Elon Musk considering buying the Keystone XL pipeline? No, that's not true: This claim appeared on a satirical website with a clear disclaimer on its About Us page. It is the work of Christopher Blair, a notorious liberal prankster who produces fake claims to troll conservatives. The claim appeared in an article published by the Patriot Party Press on…

Did a man make it public that he plans to go after Target stores in Phoenix, Arizona, that support the LGBT movement? Yes, the screenshot of a text message warning is real. A person who considers himself a professional internet provocateur made a video with another person that was posted online. In the video he threatened that in the month…

Does the movie "2000 Mules" prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen by voter fraud? No, that's not true: The film's producers promote a theory that 2,000 people in five key swing states collected and delivered hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots on behalf of a "cartel" to throw the election in favor of Joe Biden. The cellphone geotracking data…