Elections

Did President-elect Donald Trump say that if he was elected, he would personally have Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrested if Trudeau sets one foot in the United States? No, that's not true: This is an AI-generated voiceover that has been added to a video clip of Trump. The original TikTok video was marked with the hashtag "fake video." The…

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger wear a T-shirt that said, "I didn't vote for the McFelon"? No, that's not true: The photo appearing to show that scene has been altered. The original photo showed Schwarzenegger wearing a plain black T-shirt without any slogan on it. The photo was taken in March 2024, at the 2024 Arnold Sports Festival UK, which was held…

Was the Sephora company "a huge donor" to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign? No, that's not true: Neither the company nor any Sephora employee donated to the Trump campaign or Trump-favored political action committee, according to OpenSecrets.org. The company said in a statement: "Sephora does not make corporate donations to political candidates." Records show some Sephora employees did contribute to Kamala…

Did Fox News report that California Gov. Gavin Newsom will withhold California's $235 billion 2025 federal income tax? No, that's not true: A Fox News spokesperson told Lead Stories that this was not reported on Fox News. Also, the claim originally appeared on an account describing itself as "Raw Unfiltered Parody." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, commonly known as AOC, delete her pronouns from her account on X shortly after the 2024 election? No, that's not true: It happened months earlier. According to archived copies of the lawmaker's account, pronouns were most likely removed between November 2023 and May 2024. Ocasio-Cortez publicly confirmed that it had happened long before the election. The…

Does a photo show President Joe Biden sporting a red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap during his meeting with incoming President Donald Trump at the White House? No, that's not true: Media coverage of the meeting shows that the two men were wearing different clothing than what's seen in the photo. Online image-analysis tools found substantial evidence that the…

Did Seattle police say that a woman charged with killing her father with an ice ax was overwhelmed by President-elect Donald Trump's election? No, that's not true: The suspect's answer to a routine question about what day it was showed up as a statement of motive in the early version of a news article. A post on X used the…

Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admit that undocumented immigrants vote in U.S. elections? No, that's not true: She actually said families of undocumented people vote, not the undocumented themselves. Her full quote in context comes from her own official TikTok page. The claim appeared in a post and video on X (archived here) on November 11, 2024. It said: AOC admits…

Did McDonald's stock climb 200 percent after Donald Trump made a campaign appearance at one of its franchises? No, that's not true: This comes from a website that regularly publishes fake stories, and the original article was clearly labeled as "satire." McDonald's shares actually dropped after Trump visited one of its restaurants. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did Meghan Markle say she would leave the U.S. in response to Donald Trump's election, as a post on Facebook implies? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could not find proof that the wife of Prince Harry said that. Commentators have only speculated on the possibility that she might want to leave the U.S. following Trump's election. The claim appeared…

Will the White House address appear on "the national registry of sex offenders" once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January of 2025? No, that's not true: Trump was not convicted of a sex offense in a criminal case. He was found liable in a civil case that involved sexual abuse allegations. Only people who have been convicted in a…

Did a viral image of Taylor Swift capture her crying "on live television the moment the race was called for President Trump" in November 2024? No, that's not true: The picture was a screenshot of a Swift interview aired 12 years earlier. In it, Swift was reacting to questions about her personal life, not politics. The claim appeared in a…

Did the Kamala Harris campaign say it could overturn Donald Trump's election victory with a recount? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of any such statement from the Harris campaign, nor evidence of any campaign staff making such a statement. Harris conceded the presidential election to Donald Trump the day after he won a majority of both the…

Did Beyoncé declare she would no longer perform in "red states," meaning states that went for President-elect Donald Trump? No, that's not true: This comes from a website that publishes fake stories about famous people. The site describes itself as satire, and the original article was clearly labeled as satire. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook…

Did President-elect Donald Trump post on Truth Social that he had "started his day by listening to 'Not Like Us' by Kendrick Lamar"? No, that's not true: Such a post could not be found on Trump's Truth Social profile. The image of the fake post originated from parody creator Daily Noud. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Did Elon Musk's satellite-based high-speed internet system Starlink play any role in counting or uploading votes in the U.S. election that could have allowed for potential vote manipulation or cheating? No, that's not true: Election security experts told Lead Stories that there's no evidence of vote tampering involving Starlink. U.S. voting systems are managed by county and state offices on…

Did NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte publicly say that "if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance"? No, that's not true: A NATO spokesperson described the claim as "bogus." The rumor was promoted by a Russian propaganda website and anonymous pro-Kremlin Telegram channels. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X…

Does a viral image portray Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton together "after the election results" in 2024? No, that's not true: The image was online before that. Harris' and Clinton's outfits in the picture match what they wore for the November 3, 2022, event in New York where they both campaigned for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. The claim appeared…

Did Elon Musk buy CNN in November 2024? No, that's not true: A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories "there is no truth in rumors of a sale or change in ownership of CNN whatsoever." The assertion was made by Argentinian President Javier Milei and was picked up by Argentinian news outlets, but he offered no proof of such a sale.…

Did the president of Mexico say she won't recognize Donald Trump as president as of November 7, 2024? No, that's not true: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did acknowledge Trump's victory on her official X account on November 6, 2024. She said, "my most sincere congratulations to Donald Trump, who won the presidential election of the United States of America." The…