Elections

Was there a massive walkout at the NYPD the day after a new mayor was elected in New York City? No, that's not true: "There is no walkout," a spokesperson with the NYPD told Lead Stories. The claim was made by a congressional candidate based in Texas without any proof or evidence. There are no actual news reports of the…

Did retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz publicly promise to "blow his brains out on live TV" if Zohran Mamdani wins the 2025 mayoral election in New York City? No, that's not true: Dershowitz denied that on his social media account. A search for the origins of the image showing the purported quote led to a summer 2025 story…

Is the repeated appearance of a candidate's name on election ballots in the 2025 New York City mayoral election against the rules? No, that's not true: New York City Board of Elections staff told Lead Stories that those candidates are the nominees of two political parties. That can legally include running as the nominee of two officially recognized parties or…

Did a video of a social media user claiming to be about to cast a ballot for Zohran Mamdani "six or seven times" in the 2025 New York City mayoral election capture a self-incriminating admission of voter fraud? No, that's not true: The clip was part of a viral trend in which people would post videos of themselves saying "six…

Does a viral video show a black woman "robbing a white woman because Trump cut food stamps"? No, that's not true: The video was posted online three years before the 2025 government shutdown that threatened to delay or cut food subsidies. It shows a 2022 incident in Texas unrelated to Trump or the 2025 federal budget. The outdated video was…

by Dean Miller and Nicholas Muller Did Germany designate Antifa a "Domestic Terror Group" in October of 2025, as a story on a U.S. website claims? No, that's not true: The headline on the website's story grossly exaggerates the website's own story, which describes one regional political party's debate over a position paper. There is no public record that Germany's…

Does a viral video show authentic clips of four "Evangelical" pastors preaching against conservative positions on the border wall, guns, abortion and oil drilling? No, that's not true: The clips are lifted from an online account that describes itself as "Using AI to show a parallel universe." None of the quotes from the sermons in the video were found in…

Was Fox News host Brett Baier correct when he declared Chicago has "the highest murder rate of all the big cities" during an interview with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker? Yes, if you compare US cities with official populations over 1 million. Pritzker asserted Chicago ranks below 30th, but did not provide a citation for that number. Lead Stories found that…

Does a viral video really show a mother of six's rant about her "food stamps" and housing benefits being cut from $4,300 per month to $19 per month? No, that's not true: The woman appearing in the video has previously said she posts the rants as satire and they are not real. That dollar amount greatly exaggerates what is available…

Was Adam Sandler announced as the headliner of the Turning Point USA Super Bowl halftime show? No, that's not true: No evidence accompanied the claim that the Hollywood star was announced as the headliner for Turning Point USA 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. The TPUSA website does not have any information about any performers for the show as of publication…

Did Barron Trump drop out of New York University in the fall of 2025, as a viral social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The claim was made with no documentary, eyewitness or other evidence. The day before the post declared Barron had dropped out, Kai Trump, Barron's niece, posted a video in which President Trump said Barron was…

Are completed California Proposition 50 redistricting ballots visible through Sacramento County's mail-in envelopes? Yes, but that is missing context. A mark on a Prop 50 ballot can be seen through a hole in the vote-by-mail envelope from Sacramento County, Ca. if the ballot is folded with text on the outside and placed facing one of the holes on the envelope.…

Did Donald Trump once say he had talked to the "President of Puerto Rico", as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no public record of Trump ever saying that. He did, in 2017, say he had talked to the "President of the Virgin Islands," a gaffe which his staff at that time cleared up in…

Is Alisa Kasmer, the woman who posted a long message on Facebook attacking Stephen Miller, really Miller's cousin? Yes, that's true: Kasmer's post claimed that she babysat Miller and he is her first cousin. Lead Stories researched the White House Deputy Chief of Staff's family tree and confirmed that Kasmer, 43, is the daughter of Miller's paternal aunt. Photographs included…

Did People magazine publish a satirical image of Donald Trump dressed like Marie Antoinette to illustrate an article about the White House Ballroom construction project? No, that's not true: People magazine illustrated the article with a standard portrait photo of Trump wearing a blue suit with red tie. A fake screenshot used the real article's headline and People logo --…

Does a video authentically capture Donald Trump saying planned Super Bowl 2026 half-time performer Bad Bunny is from "the Mexican City of Puerto Rico" ? No, that's not true: The audio was lifted from a Trump impressionist's YouTube video and plays while the person in the TikTok video reacts to what is said. There is no publicly available report that…

Was a Trump 2020 graphic digitally added to a family photo of Michigan LDS church shooting suspect Thomas J. Sanford? No, that's not true: The picture with the Trump 2020 graphic is the original, posted publicly on Facebook in 2019 and unchanged. Social media commenters later posted an edited version that removed the Trump logo. The original photo is still…

Did Meta, the owner of the Threads social media platform, announce it had begun labeling some accounts with a warning that "This user is suspected of being part of a terrorist organization called Antifa. Please report any suspicious behavior."? No, that's not true: Users add the italicized phrase themselves at the bottom of their own posts. Neither Meta nor Threads…

At the Charlie Kirk memorial, did Elon Musk say the conservative organizer and podcaster "...did not live to be erased by the lost...we will not let that sacrifice go unnoticed"? No, that's not true: Musk was not one of the speakers at the September 21, 2025, memorial service held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. He does not appear…

Did Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, officially designate California Sen. Adam Schiff and former CIA Director John Brennan "domestic enemies"? No, that's not true: An authentic video posted by Gabbard in Jan. 2021 resurfaced on social media in Sept. 2025 with a misleading description that makes it seem like a 2025 video. Gabbard became the Director of…