Xi Jinping

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…

Does a video of night explosions confirm that Chinese President Xi Jinping was overthrown from power during a coup in Beijing in September 2022? No, that's not true: The footage does not show the capital of China at all -- it was shot in another city, Tianjin, and was uploaded to YouTube in 2017. The claim appeared in a tweet…

Did Nathaniel Rothschild write a letter to members of the British government calling Russian President Vladimir Putin "the most dangerous man since the defeat of Hitler"? No, that's not true: "This is utterly untrue and completely fabricated," a spokesperson from Rothschild's investment company told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on March 4, 2022. It…

Was the inauguration cancelled; will Donald Trump remain in office; and will ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, MSNBC all lose their licenses? No, none of that is true: A made-up story containing those claims and predictions was written by a discredited conspiracy writer and published by 'Before It's News', a news platform that lets anyone write and publish what they…

Was U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Wuhan, China, in time to release the novel coronavirus and sabotage the U.S.-China trade deal? No, neither are true. The photo of her with a Chinese offical that is being used to make the allegations is four years old and was taken during the Obama administration. It was taken in Beijing, not in…

Did President Donald Trump set a trap for former President Barack Obama to stop him from staging an overthrow of the White House? No, that's not true: the story seems loosely based on a story from October of 2019 when Trump referenced a coup on Twitter. But that was in reference to impeachment, which the Senate is expected to vote…