Terrorism

Did Australian law enforcement identify a Sydney mall attacker as "Benjamin Cohen"? No, that's not true: The police said that the man's name was Joel Cauchi. The claim originated from an account on X that self-identifies as aligned with a Russian state information outlet. The story reappeared in a post (saved here) on Facebook where it was published on April…

Did World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein get a "$1 trillion" insurance payout resulting from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore? No, that's not true: The claim cited an amount of money no individual in the world is known to possess. The claim did not supply, nor could Lead Stories find, evidence supporting the claim that he owns…

Does a video on social media contain "insider intel" regarding a bioterrorism attack that will be carried out on crowds gathered to watch the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse? No, that's not true: There is no evidence provided in this video of specific insider information about a biological attack or other disaster. The insider information purportedly comes second-hand from an…

Was one of the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooters identified as 44-year-old Sahil Omar, an "illegal immigrant"? No, that's not true: As of this writing, law enforcement had not released the identities of three people detained in connection to the incident, nor had anyone been charged. News photos of a man detained after the shooting did not identify the man…

Does a viral social media post show an authentic memo confirming that then-IRS Commissioner Roscoe Egger instructed his subordinates in 1985 that "every tax paid into the Treasury since 1913, is due and refundable to every citizen and business"? No, that's not true: Both the IRS and the defense attorney whose case was cited in the memo agreed in the…

Does a video seen on X show Azerbaijani politician Movsum Samadov on the border of the United States? No, that's not true: There is no evidence this man is Samadov or that this took place on the border of the U.S. Samadov denied that he was the man seen in the video when he spoke to Eastern Europe's Radio Liberty…

Did Donald Trump say the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were the "work of the United States" during a New Hampshire campaign stop in January 2024? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence or statement from the former president making such a claim. Trump's comments as claimed in a social media post were either faked, taken out of context…

Did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once say, "America is a golden calf and we will suck it dry," and then "destroy" it? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Netanyahu said this years before the Hamas-Israel war, or ever. The quotes are attributed to a transcript purportedly seen by an admitted misinformation peddler in 2015. But no…

Was "44-year-old Sahil Omar" confirmed as a suspect in the explosion at the Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel in Texas? No, that's not true: The Fort Worth police department had not named any suspects at the time of writing. "Sahil Omar" has been labeled a suspect in multiple tragedies in states far from one another on the social media…

Does a video of a baby with medical tubes and sensors attached to their body show the consequences from conflict in Gaza for Palestinian children in 2023? No, that's not true: The footage in a post making that implication predates the 2023 Hamas-Israel war. The video comes from an account of an American family documenting the journey of their baby…