Iran

Does a letter published by the chairman of a Nevada county Republican Central Committee, disputing the outcome of the presidential election, include evidence for the conspiracy theories proposed? No, that's not true: the widely viral article cites several unproven and disproven conspiracy theories, including "vote dumps", servers in Germany switching votes, President Trump escaping Washington on a "Doomsday" plane and…

Was Nancy Pelosi pictured unmasked at a party during the Covid-19 pandemic? No, that's not true: This is a photo from a restaurant opening January 7, 2020, 13 days before before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the United States. The claim appeared in a Facebook meme (archived here) published on December 17, 2020 with the caption "Hmmm." The…

Is a cybersecurity expert's testimony about election fraud based on verified incidents? No, the major examples Navid Keshavarz-Nia cites in a written legal declaration lack proof or direct evidence and are based on his speculation. The allegations appear in a written declaration (archived here) executed on November 25, 2020. Here is what the document looked like online at the time…

Was former President Barack Obama arrested for espionage? No, that's not true: A website completely made up the claim that Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was arrested on November 28, 2020. The article used direct quotes from a Department of Justice press release about a former CIA officer who was arrested and charged with espionage -- the…

Did the U.S. Army's Special Forces seize a CIA server farm in Frankfurt, Germany, resulting in deaths of U.S. soldiers? No, that's not true: A U.S. Army spokesperson told Lead Stories the claim is false. Lead Stories has previously debunked claims that American forces seized a computer server in Frankfurt that was owned by a company that provided voting machines…

Does medical research show COVID-19 is not transmitted in the air and that infection risk is unaffected by distance? No, neither claim is true: The claims ignore the accumulating recent evidence that airborne coronavirus is the major mode of infection. The claims ignore scientists' peer-reviewed conclusions -- which are based on what the full universe of study data show --…

Did "firefighter Sebastian Gates" die of carbon monoxide poisoning after rescuing a young girl from a fire? No, that's not true: This meme has been circulating since 2013 and contains a mixture of several different stories. The story is so muddied that no one hero could be honored by the retelling of this vague and mixed-up tale, and a search…

Were the two terms that Barack Obama spent in office "a crime spree" in which $4 trillion of $6 trillion sent to Muslim nations disappeared, $200 billion was sent to Iran, $500 billion was "stolen" from the Housing and Urban Development department, and $50 billion was set aside to build mosques around the globe? No, that's not true. The claims…

Did the Obama administration, including then-Vice President Joe Biden: "Outsource" the imprisonment of Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, to Iran; Arrange for bin Laden to be moved to Pakistan for a staged killing in May, 2011; Pay Iran $152 billion to keep its role a secret; Order a SEAL Team 6 helicopter shot down in August 2011 to…

Could November 2020 see the United States' first internal political war in its history? No, that's not true: If an internal war breaks out in the United States after the national elections in November, which some people are predicting, it would not be the first in history. The United States was divided in a four-year-long civil war starting in 1861…