Politics

Did President Donald Trump thank "No Kings" protesters in a widely-shared Truth Social post in June 2025? No, that's not true: An apparent screenshot of such a post was in fact fake. Trump did not write "I was very concerned a king was trying to take my place, but thanks to your tireless efforts, I AM STILL YOUR PRESIDENT!" The…

Did Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift attend a "No Kings Day" protest and is there a photo to prove it? No, that's not true: A viral story about the appearance of the pair was illustrated with a photo generated with artificial intelligence. The story also mentioned social media posts by the couple that they didn't actually make and there were…

Did a photo show a huge crowd flattening the bridge deck of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge during the "No Kings" protest on June 14, 2025? No, that's not true: A viral post wrongly attributed to biologist David Attenborough was talking about 1987 events and used a photo from that year. There were no news reports about "No Kings" events…

Does a viral video show the "first Iranian drone" shot down in Israel in mid-June 2025? No, that's not true: The footage was recorded in Ukraine. It's impossible for it to have documented the Iran-Israel conflict, as it was first posted to the web three years earlier. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June…

Did an authentic news outlet report that the May 2025 expense report of the California Democratic Party showed it bought 200 pallets of bricks ahead of ICE protests in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook account that identifies the owner as a comedian working for Donald Trump. The bricks story did not include links…

Does a widely-shared video prove that U.S. military tanks patrolled the streets of Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2025? No, that's not true: The person who recorded it told Lead Stories that the 10-second clip showed an armored vehicle that was in the nation's capital to participate in a military parade on June 14, 2025. That account was consistent with…

Does a video on TikTok show "Bikers on the way to California to back ICE agents" in June of 2025? No, that's not true: The video was first posted to TikTok in November 2022 -- almost three years before protesters in Los Angeles took to the streets to block aggressive ICE immigration raids. The video's original poster was documenting bikers…

Was a Craigslist ad offering "$1,000, paid in cryptocurrency" for "seat fillers" to attend a military parade in Washington, D.C. authentic? The listing attracted attention on social media when it appeared in the week leading up to a June 14, 2025, military parade. Here is what we know about it so far. The ad (archived here) was published on June…

Did Donald Trump post on his Truth Social account that he is "...open to reconciling with Elon ..."? No, that's not true: The viral image of the supposed Trump post on the social media platform he owns is fabricated. There is no trace of such a post on Trump's Truth Social account and none was indexed by Google. After their…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump propose a bill that bans all lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, from re-entering the U.S., if they leave? No, that's not true: As of June 11, 2025, Lead Stories found no such bill on the website of Congress. An earlier June 2025 White House proclamation about new travel restrictions did not…

Did The Economic Times article that declared Kamala Harris won the 2024 election cite reports that concluded voting systems were rigged for Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The reports referred to by The Economic Times all stop short of declaring the election was stolen. Instead, those writers whom The Economic Times cited said there are questions about software and…

Did a photograph shared widely in June 2025 show California's first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom shopping in Beverly Hills during anti-ICE protests and unrest in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The photograph was actually taken in January 2025. After initially claiming the picture showed Siebel Newsom shopping on June 8, the Daily Mail updated its story and issued a…

Was a controversial June 2025 Craigslist ad seeking the "toughest badasses" in Los Angeles traced to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page that describes its content as satirical. The ad appears to have been a prank, but prompted suspicions that its authors were recruiting paid anti-ICE protesters. The claim appeared in a…

Did California Governor Gavin Newsom post fake photos of National Guard troops sleeping on a hard floor during their deployment to the Los Angeles riot zone in June of 2025, as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The post provides no evidence the images were AI-generated, other than a set of red arrows overlaid without explanation and…

Is Donald Trump's June 2025 mobilization of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles just like President George H.W. Bush's 1992 decision to mobilize the National Guard during riots in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: In 1992, both Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley asked the President for National Guard to stop riots in Los…

Did a viral clip show the actor Wyatt Russell giving an impassioned speech to federal agents in Los Angeles, amid protests against ICE roundups in June 2025? No, that's not true: A Democratic strategist named Aaron Fisher told Lead Stories he was the man shown in the clip. A representative for Russell had earlier denied the actor gave the speech.…

Did a photo of troops sleeping on a floor, shared amid President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in California in June 2025, in fact date to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021? No, that's not true: the AI chatbot ChatGPT made a mistake in identifying the photo as having first been published on a U.S. military website…

Did sports media report that Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani said "There's a right way and a wrong way to get into this country. They broke the law- they have to go." when commenting on recent LA protests? No, that's not true: That quote appeared on a parody account on X that mimics a baseball podcast named "Talkin' Baseball". There…

Did Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "Admit" under oath that Republicans voted to allow Jan. 6 rioters to serve in ICE roles, as numerous viral posts claimed? No, that's not true: The claim appeared in a meme spread by an account labelled "Satire/Parody". There's no record of such a statement by Noem on the Department of Homeland Security website, on…

Did a viral image showing a pile of bricks capture a scene in Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests in June 2025? No, that's not true: The photo was taken on the opposite coast of this country, thousands of miles away. The bricks in question were stacked up in New Jersey for construction work, as confirmed by local reporting. The claim…