Barack Obama

Did Mel Gibson release a video of satanic rituals taking place on "Jeffrey Epstein's island"? No, that's not true: "He has nothing to do with this and has no knowledge of it," Gibson's publicist told Lead Stories about a social media post making this claim. There is no evidence given in the post that such a video even exists. The…

Is Michelle Obama running for president in 2024? No, that's not true: The former first lady has said in multiple interviews over the years that she will not run for president. Michelle Obama is not a candidate for president in 2024, according to the official list of candidates from the Federal Election Commission. The claim appeared in a video (archived…

Is the photo that shows Michelle Obama as "a man" authentic? No, that's not true: The image of Obama is doctored, making her features appear more masculine. She posted the picture with then-President Barack Obama on her official Instagram page in 2014 and it does not show her looking male. The claim appeared in a video on Instagram on December…

Did Barack and Michelle Obama visit "Epstein Island" and pose for a photo with their daughters with the iconic and blue and white striped building of Epstein Island in the background? No, that's not true: This photo has been altered to add the blue and white striped building. This old family photo, with a birthday greeting for Barack Obama, was…

Did former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama appear in a video promotion for a federal program giving out monthly $5,600 health spending cards to spend on bills, gas, groceries or "anything else you can think of"? No, that's not true: A video of Michelle Obama taken from a BBC interview has been altered with a fake voiceover that sounds like…

Was Oprah Winfrey's private jet at Jeffrey Epstein's island 11 different times? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Winfrey's private plane was ever on convicted pedophile Epstein's island Little St. James in the Caribbean. The island is only 75 acres and does not have a runway for Winfrey's private plane, or any planes, to land there. Winfrey…

Was an American soldier holding a "China flag" when President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California unusual or a breach of protocol as implied by a tweet from Graham Allen? No, that's not true: A State Department spokesperson told Lead Stories that anytime a foreign leader is hosted in the United States, a member of the…

Did Barack Obama's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, run death squads for the Indonesian army in the mid-1960s? No, that's not true: The identities of those who organized the death squads are well known and Soetoro was not one of them, a professor who has studied the mass violence of 1965-66 in Indonesia told Lead Stories. While Soetoro, a geography student, was…

Does a viral video show proof that the U.S. national debt was paid off in 2017? No, that's not true: The U.S. Treasury website shows the current U.S. national debt, which is about $33.7 trillion, a number accepted by U.S. financial markets, independent economists and the Federal Reserve Bank. The video relies on paperwork that has nothing to do with…

Did a "Prague newspaper" publish an article referring to Canada as a "confederacy of fools" and describing its prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as "the prince of fools" in 2023? No, that's not true: The purported quote is a years-old repurposed fragment of text whose authorship has never been verified. In the past, the same quote was used to criticize other…