Elections

Did vice presidential candidate JD Vance admit that his campaign gave him a "rent-a-dog" to use on the campaign trail? No, that's not true: Vance's full statement, which he made during an interview with Tucker Carlson, was a sarcastic acknowledgment of an online rumor. Vance also said he owned his dog before his vice presidential candidacy began. The claim appeared…

Has Taylor Swift said that she wishes she could take back endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during the 2024 presidential election cycle? No, that's not true: The singer has made no such statement and her endorsement Instagram post is still up. The website that reported on the comment has a satire disclaimer and is known…

Does a video show Usher refusing to support Kamala Harris? No, that's not true: In the full video taken from a talk-show appearance Usher said "Yes" when asked if he supports Kamala Harris for president. The video clip used on social media to say the singer didn't support her left that part out. The claim about R&B singer Usher appeared…

Did the White House announce a new debt-relief program for veterans who owe money on their credit cards? No, that's not true: A video on Facebook that made this claim used a fake screenshot of the White House website to create a misleading impression involving an article supposedly published on July 6, 2024. In reality, the Biden-Harris White House made…

Does a screenshot show an authentic Instagram account belonging to Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at Trump's golf course? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told Lead Stories the account is fake. Any copycat accounts will be removed, the spokesperson said, in…

Were explosive devices discovered at the site of a Donald Trump campaign event on September 18, 2024, on Long Island, New York? No, that's not true: Law enforcement denied the rumor. The police statement said that a person "training a bomb detection dog" near the event's location had made a false report. The claim about explosive devices appeared in a…

Did Coca-Cola cut ties with Taylor Swift after she endorsed Kamala Harris for president? No, that's not true: This comes from a social media post that's clearly marked as satire. Coca-Cola told Lead Stories it wasn't true, and it's not even clear the company still had any contractual ties to Swift when she made her political plug. The claim appeared…

Did Taylor Swift lose 17 million followers after posting an endorsement for Kamala Harris on her Instagram account? No, that's not true: Numbers show that Swift actually gained followers shortly after her endorsement. The account that posted this claim has "#Satire" and "#Parody" in their bio. The claim appeared in a now-deleted post on X (archived here) on September 15,…

Did Taylor Swift cancel her Eras Tour dates after a "backlash" over her endorsement of Kamala Harris for president damaged ticket sales? No, that's not true: The site that reported that Swift had canceled "several upcoming tour dates" describes itself as a "one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary." The site's article about Swift is clearly labeled "satire." As of…

Does a police report prove that Haitian immigrants killed and mutilated a cat in Springfield, Ohio, as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: the police report included in the post stated there was "no evidence to support" a caller's claim about Haitian immigrants stealing and killing her cat. It said that it was unknown if the meat…

Did White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly end a press briefing after Fox News senior correspondent Peter Doocy asked why she, President Biden and Vice President Harris still referred to Donald Trump as a "threat" even after two assassination attempts against the former president? No, that's not true: The social-media video that claims to show Jean-Pierre ending the briefing…

Does a video on X show Tim Walz calling Donald Trump and JD Vance "a threat to democracy" after Trump survived a second apparent assassination attempt? No, that's not true: That attempt was made in September 2024, while videos show Walz's statement was in late July 2024. There is nothing to confirm the video on X was made in mid-…

Did Gov. Gavin Newsom sign a bill banning memes and parody in California? No, that's not true: The bill specifically exempts "Materially deceptive content that constitutes satire or parody." The Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024 mandates that large online platforms either remove or label deceptive and digitally altered election-related content during specific timeframes. The claim appeared in…

Did Ryan Routh, the suspect in the apparent attempted assassination of Donald Trump in September 2024, make an appearance in a BlackRock advertisement? No, that's not true: A company spokesperson told Lead Stories that Routh had not "appeared in any BlackRock ads." The post making the claim uses a clip that does briefly show a man who appears to be…

Does a blog post prove the late Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot dead while trying to assassinate Donald Trump, made payments to Ryan Wesley Routh, charged in a separate apparent assassination attempt on Trump? No, that's not true: The blog was edited to add the name Ryan Wesley Routh on September 17, 2024 -- one day after Routh was arrested. Also,…

Did Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refuse to turn over alleged Trump gunman Ryan Wesley Routh to the FBI? No, that's not true: Jail records on September 17, 2024, showed that a Ryan Wesley Routh of the same age as the suspected gunman was housed at the Miami Federal Detention Center. Prosecutors filed two federal charges against Routh on September 16,…

Does a viral video capture "Bosnian neighbors" roasting a dog in their backyard in the U.S.? No, that's not true: A Cornell University professor of veterinary medicine told Lead Stories that what is seen in the years-old footage does not show dog or even carnivore anatomy, speculating it could be a lamb or a goat. The video recycled an old…

Did Hillary Clinton suggest jailing Americans for posting "misinformation" and saying "there needs to be deterrence"? No, that's missing context: She said that, aside from indictments against Russians for "direct election interference," civil or criminal charges against Americans parroting Russian state propaganda for money would be a "better deterrence" against Moscow's propaganda efforts. The former U.S. secretary of state was…

Did Howard University professors confirm that Vice President Kamala Harris was "the worst student ever"? No, that's not true: This first appeared in a post on Facebook that had "Satire" in the caption. The Facebook account that initially posted the information says in its bio that it posts satire and nothing on its page is real. The claim appeared in…

Does an authentic photo show Kamala Harris posing arm-in-arm with Sean "Diddy" Combs? No, that's not true: Combs' face has been pasted onto the body of the man who was standing next to Harris when the photo was taken in 2001 by Ron Galella as can be seen on Getty Images. The man in the original photo is TV host…