Xi Jinping

Did U.S. President Donald Trump post a meme of Winnie the Pooh on X to troll China's Xi Jinping in 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories manually reviewed Trump's account on X and did not find the image social media alleged he published. No credible media organization reported the purported news. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Is it unusual that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was not invited to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration? No, that's missing context: A social media post's assertion that usually the British prime minister "would be the first name on the list" is untrue. Traditionally, foreign leaders were not invited to U.S. presidential inaugurations, a presidential historian told Lead Stories. The claim…

Does a photo show China's President Xi Jinping suffering a stroke in July 2024? No, that's not true: The image in a social media post is an Associated Press photo from March 11, 2024. Xi was pictured wincing after taking a sip from a cup at the National People's Congress. The Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party was…

Did China's Defense Ministry warn it would "intervene militarily" if the United States or NATO attacked Russia? No, that's not true: No credible evidence supports this claim. Additionally, there are no official statements or credible reports from the Chinese government or its Defense Ministry to support this assertion. Nor is there any report of such a statement in China Daily,…

Did Donald Trump say in a speech that there would be a "bloodbath" if he weren't elected in November 2024? Yes, that's true, here's more context: The former American president used the term on March 16, 2024, while campaigning in Vandalia, Ohio, in a speech that painted a dire picture of the country if Joe Biden were to win a…

Does a video on social media show President Joe Biden speaking very slowly and haltingly about the powerful drug fentanyl? No, that's not true: The video in a viral Instagram post has been digitally edited. In the real, extended video, Biden speaks at a natural pace on various topics at a press conference during the U.S.-China summit in November 2023.…

Was an American soldier holding a "China flag" when President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California unusual or a breach of protocol as implied by a tweet from Graham Allen? No, that's not true: A State Department spokesperson told Lead Stories that anytime a foreign leader is hosted in the United States, a member of the…

Did Volodymyr Zelenskyy announce that he would "no longer take a call from Xi Jinping?" No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the Ukrainian president made the comment about Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Lead Stories previously debunked another made-up quote from the same Twitter account. The claim appeared as a post published on Twitter on April 6, 2023…

Did Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner pocket $640 million in jobs as advisers to former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Both Trump and Kushner worked at the White House on a pro bono (unpaid) basis, although they earned millions from business interests outside government. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on August 12, 2022. It…

Did Poland "take the first step towards turning Ukraine into a Polish colony"? No, that's not true: Even a Facebook video that made such a claim admits there are no credible media reports or official statements backing this up. Lead Stories previously debunked similar claims that were initially published on the website of Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR. On…