Conspiracy And Children

Did U.S. Special Forces arrest former Hillary Clinton campaign aides John Podesta and Huma Abedin? No, that's not true: There's no credible corroboration for an article that makes the claim, which rests on a purported single unnamed source. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense said the arrests did not happen. The website that published the story is known for…

Did President Donald Trump indict Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on his last day in office? No, that's not true. The claim was made without proof and the U.S. Constitution reserves indictment power to grand juries, not presidents. Barrett was, in fact, Trump's pick for the Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Barrett took the oath of…

Was an aircraft carrier with 38 military jets deployed to the Suez Canal to the scene of the grounded container ship that conspiracy theorists claim was carrying trafficked children and nuclear weapons? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found the post's photo -- which was taken 30 years ago -- of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the National Archives.…

Is a ship that blocked traffic in the Suez Canal on March 23, 2021, used for human and sex trafficking? Is there a connection between the ship and Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: There's no publicly available evidence the container ship is involved in illegal trafficking activities, nor is there anything -- such as the ship's maritime call sign…

Was the Milwaukee County Children's Court judge arrested on seven counts of child porn also the former president of Drag Queen Story Hour Foundation? No, that's not true. Children's Court Judge Brett Blomme was arrested on seven counts of child porn in Milwaukee on March 16, 2021. But, he was not the president of the Drag Queen Story Hour Milwaukee…

Did the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report 1,739 deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: There's no public evidence the vaccine caused deaths. As its source, the claim cites the government's rough list of unverified reports: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Anyone can report events to VAERS, and the reports -- on their…

Do "medbeds" exist? Will they be available soon? No, that's not true: There's no publicly available evidence such devices are real. The claim is situated within the broader QAnon conspiracy theory that believes the world is controlled by a satanic "deep state." It alleges that "medbeds" can make people decades younger, rebuild limbs and cure disease. There's nothing in the…

Is Donald Trump the "real" president, does Joe Biden not fly on Air Force One, does hydroxychloroquine "fix" COVID-19 and do masks not stop the spread of coronavirus? No, that's not true: Biden won the election and became President of the United States at 12:01 on January 20, 2021, per the U.S. Constitution. Trump is no longer the president and…

Did U.S. Navy SEALs arrest Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: Clinton was not arrested under a secret order former President Donald Trump gave to the Navy. "The story is fabricated and not factual," Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, assistant chief of information, Media Operations/Plans for the U.S. Navy, told Lead Stories. The claim appeared as an article published by Real Raw…

Will Donald Trump be inaugurated on March 4, 2021? No, that's not true: The "five pieces of evidence" held up to support such a claim have been debunked before or are speculative, assigning significance to otherwise neutral facts. Joe Biden is president of the United States, has been since January 20, 2021, and all publicly available evidence confirms that he…