Does a meme showing thousands of people packed into a street intersection depict a January 2021 "Big Payback" rally in Washington, D.C.? No, that's not true: The image used in the meme shows a January 21, 2017, women's anti-Trump march in Los Angeles. The meme appeared in from a post (archived here) shared on Facebook on January 5, 2021, under…

Did Delta Force raid a "Biden compound" in Ukraine and did they recover gold bullion, drugs and weapons? No, that's not true: the story was put out by an anonymously operated website that had only been active for about a week, it quoted no named sources and it used the exact same details as an earlier, 2017 fake story about…

Does this photo show crowds thronging the streets of Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021, a day ahead of when supporters of Donald Trump planned to demonstrate in favor of his crusade to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: Washington, D.C., was overcast on January 5, 2021, and a simple image search online shows…

Did someone hack into the electronic voting system being used in Georgia for the January 5, 2020, U.S. Senate runoff races? No, Georgia election officials say that's not true: The digital poll book was not even in use on December 30, 2020, the day J. Hutton Pulitzer told lawmakers he had hacked his way into it. On two occasions since…

Does this photo show one of the "caravans from all over the nation headed to DC" for the January 6, 2021, protests in support of President Trump? No, that's not true: The photo was taken at an October 24, 2020, Trump rally in the San Francisco area, based on photos Lead Stories found online of the event, including those taken…

Were ballots used in Republican areas of Georgia different from ballots used in Democratic areas of the state, resulting in a rigged election? No, that's not true: A purported elections expert -- who the Georgia secretary of state's office described as a "failed treasure hunter" -- claimed that since ballots have a unique bar code for each precinct, that "caused…

Does this photo show a caravan headed to DC from California in support of the pro-Trump rally on January 6, 2021? No, that's not true: The photograph on social media showing a long line of cars with American flags traveling on a highway is from October 2020 and shows cars on New York's Long Island, New York, not vehicles traveling…

Does Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have a brother named Ron who is the chief technology officer for the China-based Huawei Corporation? No, that's not true: While Huawei does have a Ron Raffensperger working as the CTO of its subsidiary Huawei Enterprise Storage Solutions, he is not the Georgia sercretary of state's brother. "Secretary Raffensperger does not have a…

Is Joe Biden stepping down as president-elect because of health issues? No, that's not true: This is a fabricated claim. Biden is not stepping down. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published by @UndergroundPatriot on January 1, 2021, with the caption "Here we go !!!" The Facebook post, which came in the form of…

Did a "New York Times Election Report" reveal 104,984 Stolen Votes in Georgia and 347,768 in Pennsylvania? And was this report published by a "European paper" because the rest of the world gets different news? No, that's not true: the headline "New York Times Election Report Reveals 104,984 Stolen Votes in Ga, 347,768 in PA" appeared in the Central City…

Did a pro-Trump "operative" uncover thousands of counterfeit November 2020 Fulton County ballots stored in an Atlanta warehouse? No, that's not true: Photos of boxes of ballots showed emergency paper ballots stored in the warehouse as back-ups in the event voting machines failed on election day. Election rules require each county to hold emergency ballots equal to at least 10%…

Does Joe Biden have a plan to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for Americans? No, that's not true: President-elect Biden has repeatedly said that he would not propose making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory. "I don't think it should be mandatory. I wouldn't demand it to be mandatory," Biden said at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware on December 3, 2020. There is…

Is the certification of the Pennsylvania presidential vote premature and in error, based on an analysis that claims 202,377 more ballots were counted than there were voters who voted? No, that's not true: The analysis, released by a handful of state Republican lawmakers, was based on partial data, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS). The number of voters…

Did President Trump invoke the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as he signed the Covid-19 Relief Bill, forcing Congress to rescind section 230, cut wasteful spending, and to add $2,000 stimulus checks for all Americans? No, that's not true: The Impoundment Control Act does not force Congress to do anything. It was passed in 1974 as a way to limit…

Did the AT&T data center in Nashville, Tennessee, damaged by a Christmas morning bomb have a contract to audit Dominion voting machines? No, that's not true: An AT&T spokesman confirmed to Lead Stories via email there is no such contract. We've also been unable to find any documentation that any company has a contract to audit voting machines. The claim…

Are a couple of tweets and a link to a website named lacountyarrestrecords.com solid evidence Adam Schiff was arrested by the FBI at LAX Airport on December 24, 2020? No, that's not true: tweets are not solid evidence and there is no reason FBI arrests would show up on a website claiming to show county arrest records. The website itself…

Did 14 U.S. military generals say they would never take orders for President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: The claim was made in a satirical article published by the ALLOD network of websites that troll conservatives, hoping to trick them into sharing false claims. The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by DailyWorldUpdate.us on November 19, 2020…

Does an advertising video titled "The Plot To Steal America" contain hard evidence of election fraud? No, that's not true: the 18-minute pitch contains allegations based on video clips purporting to show "evidence" but several of these clips do not actually show what is being claimed. The announcer repeats 11 already-debunked claims in the opening five minutes, then tells viewers…

Did Joe Biden say "this country is doomed" because non-Hispanic white people will become a minority share of the U.S. population in the near future? No, that's not true: This is a deceptively edited clip. He did say those words, but the rest of the words he spoke -- edited out for a TikTok post -- make it clear he…

Did the members of Congress give themselves a pay raise as part of the spending bills aimed at stimulating the economy and providing relief to those harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic? No, that's not true: The claim is posted without evidence. The omnibus spending bill passed December 22, 2020, only mentions congressional pay in a section that prohibits a pay…