9/11

Did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi call Social Security recipients "just a burden on society" or even "leeches"? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made-up stories that are clearly marked as satire when you actually click them. Articles from the site are frequently copied…

Is there evidence that COVID-19 is (a) not real and (b) simply a scapegoat to deflect blame for an economic disaster? No, that's not true: The global pandemic that's infected about 1 million people that we know of and killed more than 51,000 as of April 2, 2020, is -- sadly -- very real. The claim questioning the truth behind…

Did President Trump sign a bill that addresses the future of 5G infrastructure? Yes, that's true: the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 was signed on March 23, 2020, but a video detailing the potential fallout of expanding 5G technology is exaggerated. The claim came from a video (archived here) where it was published by The Last American Vagabond…

Is it true that names of people who have died from the novel coronavirus have not been published by news media or posted on the internet? No, that's not true: News organizations have repeatedly reported on the victims -- often giving life stories of those lost to the pandemic. The claim has been spreading on Facebook, including in this post…

Is there already a vaccine for COVID-19 that the U.S. govenment is hiding in a wide plot to kill people off? And is the next-generation wireless technology 5G responsible for the novel coronavirus? Further, are the Illuminati also involved in this conspirary? No, none of this is true. While scientists and medical professionals are working to develop a vaccine to…

Does a viral photo show U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar without a head scarf? No, that's not true: it is an altered image of a man arrested in South Wales that purports to be the Democrat from Minnesota. The image, including one posted here (archived here), shows a side-by-side photo of Rep. Omar wearing a hijab next to another image of…

Is a post making the rounds on Facebook showing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice chumming with Osama bin Laden real? No, that's not true. The faked photos, arranged in a collage, are poorly altered images. But they are gaining traction on the Internet - even though most commenters have noted they are doctored images. The post (archived here)…

Did a man who works on 5G towers expose the dangers the new wireless technology will bring? No, that's not true: The self-described tower climber is not an expert on the technology. He admitted he was currently undergoing 5G training when he recorded the video. He also offered no sources for his grave predictions. The video post (archived here) was…

Mary Acosta, a staff writer and fact-checker for Lead Stories, is a former copy editor at CNN International. She was based at the network's headquarters in Atlanta. Prior to working at CNNI she was a writer, writer-producer, and copy editor at CNN. She was part of teams that won Emmy Awards for coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terror…

Did Ben Carson, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, offer to do brain surgery on U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters? No, that's not true: Although Carson and Waters, a California Democrat, have shown great disdain for one another in the past, Carson, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, never made such a statement. The claim, which has been making the…