Barack Obama

Will former President Barack Obama move to Kenya in June 2023 as a Senate-confirmed special envoy for U.S. diplomacy? No, that's not true: The article that makes this claim has a disclaimer that states it's an April Fool's Day story. Some websites, however, have since published copies of this made-up story without the April Fool's Day disclaimer. The article, published…

Are school shootings proven to be caused predominantly by the attackers taking antidepressants? No, that's not true: No credible source has confirmed this claim since it was published in 2012. The claim reappeared in a post on Instagram on March 30, 2023. The caption said: 🤔 Just wanted to leave this here... #ssri #antidepressants #healing #iatrogenicmania An article shared in…

Do images circulating on social media show press photos of Anthony Fauci under arrest and in police custody? No, that's not true: Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has not been arrested. These are not photos of a real incident but are images generated by an artificial intelligence program. Jack Posobiec posted the…

Is the claim that President Joe Biden has spent 40 percent of his presidency "on vacation" a straightforward statement? No, that's not true: It's missing context. The count includes days the president makes public appearances and days he spends at home in Delaware and at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland -- time the White House insists he is…

Was John Podesta, a career politician and high-ranking operative of the Democratic Party serving as President Joe Biden's senior clean energy adviser, caught on camera dancing while naked? No, that's not true: In 2023, a tweet recycled previously debunked accusations associated with the QAnon conspiracy movement. The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) published on March 1, 2023: Here's…

Is former U.S. President Barack Obama the grandson of Nazi-era Germany's leader Adolf Hitler? No, that's not true: U.S. census data and Obama's birth certificate show that his mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Kansas in 1942 to American parents. She was not born in Germany to Hitler and his then-girlfriend, Eva Braun, as a social media post alleges. The…

Did then-President Barack Obama put this painting into storage in the White House in 2014 and has President Joe Biden put it up for auction? No, that's not true: This painting, "Washington Crossing the Delaware," was on loan from a private collector who decide to sell it to other private collectors. While it hung in the White House from the…

Did former German Chancellor Angela Merkel reveal in an interview plans by the United States and NATO for war in Ukraine with Russia? No, that's not true: Nowhere in her interview with the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, which was published in November 2022, does she talk about NATO plans for the war. The claim appeared in a Facebook…

Did Michelle Obama's doctor go on the record about the former first lady using a urinal during the 2008 presidential campaign, thereby proving that she is a man? No, that's not true: The article making this claim originated in 2017 on a now-defunct satirical website called America's Last Line of Defense. Clearly marked disclaimers on the original website, run by…

Did actor Tom Hanks' name appear on the flight list of a private jet owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. financier who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges? No, that's not true: Hanks' name does not appear on the flight logs for Epstein's plane, which have been in the public domain since 2015.…