Pizzagate

Did Hillary Clinton face a military tribunal on April 8, 2021? No, that's not true. "The story is fabricated," the Defense Department press operations duty officer told Lead Stories via email on April 12, 2021. Lead Stories previously debunked the claim that Hillary Clinton was arrested by Navy SEALs in March 2021, with a U.S. Navy spokesperson on the record…

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…

Did the United States National Guard recently conduct an operation in the nation's capital that resulted in the discovery of thousands of dead and dying children in tunnels under the city of Washington, D.C.? No, that's not true: This recent resurfacing of the "children in tunnels" myth is a part of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory that is not supported…

Is Lady Gaga a high-ranking satanic witch? No, that's not true. Pop star Lady Gaga was described in a social media post as being the "highest ranking satanic witch in the music and entertainment industry," after she appeared at a campaign rally for Democratic candidate Joe Biden on November 2, 2020. The accusation is part of a conspiracy that has…

Abbie Richards, a climate science student in the Netherlands, was looking with bewilderment at the state of her home country of the United States. So many conspiracy theories echoing, particularly ahead of the election. Struggling to wrangle all of them for a paper, she made a chart naming some 100 conspiracies dominating the social media world to, she hoped, make…

Did Joe Biden hold an event and nobody showed up, or were there more Trump supporters than Biden's? No, neither of those claims is true. Video and photos of a campaign Democratic nominee Biden held in Ohio show him standing on a stage with no people in front of him. That's because the event was a drive-in rally with people…

Are "pedophilia code words" contained within a conversation about Joe Biden that took place between Kamala Harris and Barack Obama? No, that's not true: The alleged coded language is based on a fake FBI document. Lead Stories tracked down the real bulletin, which makes no mention of code words. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on Instagram…

Is "Pizza Gate" real? No, that's not true: So-called proof for Pizzagate is unsubstantiated and speculative. It relies on tricks of the trade common to people pushing unproven allegations. Authorities have described Pizzagate as a "fictitious online conspiracy theory." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on August 21, 2020. The post contains a nearly hour-long…

Did Hillary Clinton testify in court on September 9, 2020, for a lawsuit related to her use of private emails for official business while she was secretary of state in the Obama administration or any other matters? No, that's not true. Clinton was not in court in person giving a deposition in the emails case -- the United States Court…

Were two British siblings witnesses and participants in sexually depraved, baby-killing, cannibalistic satanic rituals in which their father was the cult leader and every teacher in their school in Hampstead, England, was a member? No, that's not true: This case from 2014 was investigated in London's Family Court in London. In a formal summary the family court judge wrote that…