Al Qaeda

Did this U.S. Navy K-9 handler help prevent a terrorism-related attack on Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas? No, that's not true: Although a female sailor did help stop the May 21, 2020, attack, that sailor was not a K-9 handler and is not the sailor shown in the post. The claim appeared as a Facebook post (archived here)…

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…

Did Joe Biden leak the identities of SEAL Team 6 members? No, that's not true: Though he publicly praised the SEALs for the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, he did not identify members of the elite unit by name. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on March 4, 2020. It read: Today would be a good day…

Did the Catholic Church forgive a pedophile priest with HIV who raped 30 children? No, that's not true: There is no evidence the priest the story claims was HIV-positive, raped 30 children and was forgiven by the Catholic church ever existed. The situation and person accused of raping children and being absolved by the church appears to be completely fabricated.…

Is President Trump signing an executive order creating term limits for Congress? No, that's not true. Trump has no current plan to sign such an order, which would run up against a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Just as telling, the story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made-up…

Did Mitt Romney endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States? 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 by foreign-run fake news websites.…

Did Woody Allen urge New Yorkers to "disown" President Trump? No, that's not true: This is a parody from a website stating it is "satire for flat earthers, Trumpsters and Y'all Qaeda." The article originated on a web site called Daily World Update on March 29, 2020, titled "Woody Allen: 'New York Should Disown Trump'" (archived here) which opened: As…

Did Fox News win a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting during the coronavirus crisis? Not, that's not true: The claim was made in a post on a site clearly labeled as satire and part of a well-known network of satirical websites that trolls conservatives with fiction to rile up their base. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published…

Did U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, vow to cut social security entitlements for seniors at a rally? No, this is not true. A satire website with a long history of hoaxes originally posted the original article to troll conservatives and fool them into sharing the made-up story. It succeeded. The claim reappeared as an article (archived here) published…

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)…