Election

Does a video show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy begging Western leaders to spend their money on Ukraine? No, that's not true: In the Fox News Channel interview, Zelenskyy was directing his comments toward domestic critics, not anyone in the West. Additionally, he did not call for Western leaders to send all their funds to Ukraine, contrary to the assertion in…

Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps arrest Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for treason in December 2023? No, that's not true: The chief operating officer for the Secretary of State's office posted a message on social media saying the claims are "ridiculous crap." The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes…

Did Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's legal staff notify Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in late 2023 that 17,852 invalid 2020 votes were counted in Georgia's Fulton County? No, that's not true: The State Election Board told Lead Stories that Kemp's office forwarded a claim by one Georgia citizen to Raffensperger and to the state Election Board in 2022. Kemp's office…

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…

Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps place Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official Dr. Karen Hacker under arrest for committing "treason, abuse of office, and defrauding the country"? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer and representatives of the CDC told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The website where this claim was made publishes…

Was President Joe Biden encouraging "violence and chaos" in a video published on Facebook? No, that's not true: The original video shows that when Biden spoke about chaos and violence he was quoting a Trump adviser. His remarks were based on a quote from Kellyanne Conway, not his own beliefs. The claim appeared in a video on Facebook on December…

Does a New York Post headline claim that James Gordon Meek, a former investigative journalist for ABC who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in September 2023, also "debunked" the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory? No, that's not true: Such a headline never appeared in the New York Post. Additionally, there's no evidence that Meek ever wrote a story about Pizzagate. The…

Has a journalist who debunked the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory also been charged with child pornography? No, that's not true: the allegation was based on a faked screenshot of a non-existent New York Post headline. While former ABC investigative reporter James Gordon Meek was sentenced in September 2023 for possessing child sexual abuse material, he is not one of the journalists…

Did former President Donald Trump advertise a water filter on Facebook? No, that's not true: Outside of the post making such a claim, Lead Stories did not find any evidence confirming that. A video with a Trump-sounding narration likely utilized a so-called "cloned" version of the former president's voice generated by AI. The claim originated from a post (archived here)…

Did 17,327 dead people vote in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released an audit in March 2022 that found 1,616 votes cast by electors who died prior to election day in the 2020 general election were tallied. No voter fraud was determined to have occurred by the audit,…