Elections

Did the FBI and U.S. Department of Education release a video recommending that U.S. schools close until November 11, 2024, because of a significant increase in the risk of school shootings and riots during the presidential election? No, that's not true: The FBI has called the video "fake" and its contents "false." The U.S. Department of Education also has not…

Does a video prove the CIA identified 20 people who organized vote stuffing by using the identities of dead Americans who had lived in Europe? No, that's not true: The CIA told Lead Stories the allegation that they identified deceased Americans voting is "absolutel false." The video spreading the vote-stuffing story has substantial evidence of manipulation, an AI detector organization…

Does an authentic photo show Trump ballots for 2024 about to be destroyed by a poll worker in North Carolina? No, that's not true: The photo used for this post dates back to 2020 in Wallingford, Connecticut, and is not related to ballot destruction or the 2024 election. The original, uncropped photo shows Wallingford Town Clerk Barbara Thompson preparing to…

Did the FBI post a video warning that Democrats had rigged voting by prisoners in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona ahead of the 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: The FBI put out a bulletin calling this a "false narrative." It said the video was "not authentic" and its contents were "false." The claim appeared in a post for a…

Did Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin say "we won't be certifying the election" if Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: Raskin posted on his verified X account that the quote was "fabricated." Lead Stories could not find any evidence that Raskin made this statement. His website did not have any links that corroborated the purported statement.…

Does an authentic video show Kamala Harris slurring her words during a campaign speech as if she were drunk? No, that's not true: The clip was altered and slowed down, giving the impression that the Democratic presidential nominee was speaking abnormally slowly. C-SPAN posted her original speech, at a rally in Philadelphia, which was at normal speed with no slurring.…

Does a video on social media show a Kentucky voting machine marking Kamala Harris for president when the voter tried to press Donald Trump, leaving them unable to vote for Trump? Yes, but that is missing context: The Kentucky Board of Elections' general counsel told Lead Stories in a statement that, after the video was filmed, the voter was able…

Was the Sheriff's Office in Gwinnett County, Georgia, told about a threat from white supremacists or Ku Klux Klan members against Black women up to the inauguration? No, that's not true: The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office issued a statement on their Facebook page that they "have not received any information indicating threats to any group(s) on or after election day."…

Did Fox News' "Hannity" guests react to Donald Trump's stumbling entry into a garbage truck with calls for cognitive testing and medical records? No, that's not true: "The Daily Show," which satirizes the news, created the footage. It took authentic clips from Fox News' "Hannity" show on February 4, 2017, where guests Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr.…

Does a "dot" in the Kamala Harris box on a Kentucky ballot invalidate any other 2024 choice for U.S. president? No, that's not true: The Kentucky State Board of Elections' general counsel told Lead Stories that both the elections board and the Kentucky attorney general's office were not "aware of any complaints from Kentucky voters" about "pre-printed marks" next to…

Is there a "nationwide issue" affecting Dominion voting machines that is impacting people's ability to vote as they intend? No, that's not true: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson misspoke when she said that. According to a Dominion press release, Michigan is the only state experiencing such issues, specifically with Dominion Voting Assistance Terminals -- a device used by voters…

Does a video of a person with a skateboard show a "ballot mule caught on camera at a branch library in Lincoln, Nebraska? No, that's not true: Local election officials who reviewed surveillance footage of the location confirmed that the person was only returning his ballot to the library's ballot drop box. Both the account that is the focus of…

Does a video on social media show a Trump rally crowd in Salem, Virginia, in November 2024? No, that's not true: The original video is taken from pop-music singer-songwriter Chappell Roan's performance on October 6, 2024, at the Austin City Limits music festival in Texas, an event unrelated to Trump's presidential campaign rally in Virginia in November 2024. The audio…

Did CNN air a screenshot of election numbers that showed Kamala Harris winning Texas with 51.8 percent and 1,113,499 votes against Trump with 45.7 percent and 982,091 votes? No, that's not true: CNN said the image was "completely fabricated and manipulated" and that it "never aired on any CNN platform." Lead Stories found no credible proof that the post image…

Did basketball star Michael Jordan endorse Donald Trump for president? No, that's not true: Jordan's management told Lead Stories that there was "absolutely no truth" to this claim. At the time of writing, Jordan had endorsed neither Trump or Kamala Harris for president. The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on November 3, 2024. The caption read:…

Did the Pentagon fail to provide enough absentee ballots for service members overseas? No, that's not true: If a member of the military requests an absentee ballot from their state but it does not arrive in time, they can print a ballot from a special website designed to assist any overseas American voter. More than 3,000 voting assistance officers are…

Do photos of ballots marked with a vote for Donald Trump prove that citizens of other countries are voting in the 2024 U.S. election because American law does not require them to show a voter ID? No, that's not true: Several copycat posts use the same ballot photo to say this, but list different countries in the caption. These posts…

Does a post on social media prove that a "male relative who recently started identifying as a 'woman' received two ballots for the election" in McHenry County, Illinois, in 2024? No, that's not true: The post's images of envelopes had labels that said they had applications for ballots, not mail ballots themselves. The post also didn't prove that the envelopes…

Did Donald Trump issue a statement on Peanut the Squirrel saying the animal was "executed" by the State of New York? No, that's not true: The Trump campaign said a viral image that is supposedly a Trump statement is fake. Lead Stories found no posts mentioning squirrels on Trump's accounts on X and Truth Social as of this writing. One…

Did The Atlantic publish an article with the title "How A Squirrel Became A Rallying Cry Of The Far Right"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no such story on the magazine's website. The X account that posted a fake screenshot of the article later described it as a "meme." The story appeared in a post (archived here) on…