Barack Obama

Did Sen. John Kennedy read aloud during a Senate hearing sexually explicit text messages former President Barack Obama sent to Larry Sinclair? No, that's not true: The video is authentic, but mislabeled. The Louisiana Republican was reading gay sex scenes from two books during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding banning books from libraries. The claim appeared with a video…

Do former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama own an estate in Maui, Hawaii, and was that supposed Maui estate "spared from the fires" that affected Maui in early August 2023? No, that's not true: The Obamas do not own an estate in Maui, where the fires primarily spread. Rather, they are reportedly developing a property in Oahu,…

Was the Obamas' personal chef writing a tell-all book before his "mysterious death"? No, that's not true: There is no proof shown in a video making the claim that Tafari Campbell was writing a book about the former president and first lady at the time of his death near their Martha's Vineyard home. The video purports to be from "Inside…

Did Bloomberg publish a story saying that former President Barack Obama was a "middle man" for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at J.P. Morgan? Did Obama help the disgraced financier to foster ties with the banking institution? No, that's not true: Bloomberg did not write anything remotely similar in August 2023. The claim on social media distorted a Bloomberg…

Was Hawaii "never really made a state" as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: Hawaii officially became a U.S. state on August 21, 1959. This happened after the U.S. Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act and most people in Hawaii voted for the territory to become a state. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram by…

Did Tafari Campbell, the Obamas' personal chef, suffer "blunt force trauma" prior to his July 2023 drowning death? No, that's not true: The Massachusetts State Police told Lead Stories that there were "no external trauma or injuries" observed in Campbell after his body was found in Edgartown Great Pond near former President Barack Obama's home on Martha's Vineyard. The claim…

Did then-President Barack Obama refer to his wife Michelle as "Michael" during a speech in 2011? No, that's not true: He was talking about Navy Adm. Mike Mullen's son then-Lt. Michael Edward Mullen. This clip takes a moment from a speech out of context. Obama was listing the members of Adm. Mullen's family during a September 30, 2011, Change of…

Did Barack and Michelle Obama's story change about where they were when their personal chef Tafari Campbell drowned near their Massachusetts home, "altering the story to say they were indeed on the property" when Campbell went missing? No, that's not true: Massachusetts State Police said in a statement that the former president and his wife were "not present at the…

Did Tafari Campbell, the Obamas' chef who drowned in July 2023 while paddleboarding, make a post two years ago stating that he had information that would lead to Barack Obama's arrest? No, that's not true: This is a fabricated post shared by the right-wing meme account @PepeLivesMatter. Campbell never suggested he had incriminating evidence about Barack Obama on social media,…

Did former President Barack Obama say that pedophiles deserve the "same rights'' as 2SLGBTQI+ people? No, that's not true: The tweet attributed to him that says, "Minor-attracted persons deserve human rights" is fabricated and was never posted by Obama. The article making the claim says his recent open letter about banning books was "specifically referring to sexually explicit books," though…