Donald Trump

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write a post about winning "the Iran thing" in a "Bigly" way on March 19, 2026? No, that's not true: The post did not originate from Trump's account. The image of the entry, as it first appeared on social media, carried a satire label. The claim originated from a post (archived here) published on X…

Did U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer threaten to close U.S. bases at Lakenheath, Mildenhall and elsewhere, and demand rent if President Donald Trump withdraws from NATO? No, that's not true: Contrary to a viral screenshot claiming Starmer posted such a threat on X, there is no evidence he actually did that. Neither news reports nor Starmer's X account support the…

Was a video about Ukrainian drone operator Miroslav Radchenko shared on social media actually produced and distributed by Al Jazeera? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no traces of such a report broadcast or shared online by Al Jazeera or any other media outlet. Spreading false narratives through clips with logos of real media organizations is a well-known tactic…

Did the BBC use AI to fabricate remarks by President Donald Trump in a Jan. 6, 2021, speech in a documentary that aired just before the 2024 election? No, that's not true: The $5 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the BBC does not allege that it used AI. Instead, it argues that the network edited together unrelated portions of the…

Did Carol Burnett and other celebrities say Donald Trump "has been abused and lied about since taking office" and "stood like a lion against a pack of jackals"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Burnett and the others ever said that about Trump. The claim was an example of so-called "Viet Spam" campaigns of nearly identical made-up…

Did President Donald Trump post a message about a "Hormuz Peace Board" on his Truth Social account on March 16, 2026? No, that's not true: No post including the phrase "Hormuz Peace Board" could be found on Trump's Truth Social account. There is no evidence online that the president ever shared a post accusing Presidents Obama and Biden of starting…

Did Sophie Cunningham and other famous people including Alice Cooper, Ice Cube and Myles Garrett say that President Donald Trump is a "tough man" and "no one has fought harder for the heart and soul of America"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Cunningham and the others ever said that about Trump. The claim was an example…

Was the crowd seen behind President Donald Trump at a Kentucky rally an AI-generated creation, since it didn't appear to be captured on camera phones in the audience? No, that's not true: The phones don't show the people behind Trump because they capture a different angle than the TV camera does, and instead show the white wall above him. The…

Did Rep. Ted Lieu confront FBI Director Kash Patel with a secret Epstein recording in which Patel says, "Trump told me to bury it"? No, that's not true: During a congressional hearing in September 2025, Lieu confronted Patel with a recording, but it was not a "secret recording"; it was a publicly available interview with journalist Michael Wolff. Patel was…

Is the video of Iran announcing the new leader with a cardboard cutout of Ayatollah Mojtaba Hosseini real? No, that's not true: In the original video, a framed photo of the Ayatollah is presented and not a cardboard cutout. An online AI detection tool found the video was 73.5% likely generated with AI. The claim appeared in a March 10,…