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Was Donald Trump's real voice used in a video endorsing a documentary warning that 300 million Americans will die in an attack on the power grid in a matter of weeks? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Trump ever made the statements in the video. A search of Trump's campaign website and of Google's index of thousands…

Did Barack Obama's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, run death squads for the Indonesian army in the mid-1960s? No, that's not true: The identities of those who organized the death squads are well known and Soetoro was not one of them, a professor who has studied the mass violence of 1965-66 in Indonesia told Lead Stories. While Soetoro, a geography student, was…

Did House Speaker Mike Johnson say that "homosexual relationships" were "more satisfying than hetero relationships"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Johnson ever publicly made that statement. The fake quote may have been inspired by an opinion column Johnson wrote in 2004 that supported a same-sex marriage ban in Louisiana, his home state. The claim appeared in…

Did House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson say that "Every woman has a duty to birth at least one able-bodied worker"? No, that's not true: Johnson's director of media affairs told Lead Stories that he "never said anything of the kind." Johnson made reference to "able-bodied workers" during a congressional hearing in 2022, but did not say the words attributed…

Was Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds interrupted by Trump chants during the speech in which she endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the presidential race? No, that's not true: The audio of the November 6, 2023, speech has been edited to include chants and remarks from a different event that took place on August 12, 2023. The "we want Trump" chants…

Did former President Donald Trump write on November 2, 2023, that he would nominate Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal judge overseeing his classified documents case in Florida, to the Supreme Court? No, that's not true: Trump's purported Truth Social post, which made the claim about Cannon, is not real. There's no record of the post. Furthermore, if Trump had made…

Was Donald Trump stating his opinion of Israel when he said "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel"? No, that's not true: Trump, speaking at a 2019 Minneapolis rally was quoting a social media post by Representative Ilhan Omar, a member of Congress from Minnesota. A video circulating…

Did former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump publish a social media post that confused President Joe Biden with former president Barack Obama in the 2024 election? No, that's not true: A screenshot that claims to show such a post cannot be found on Trump's Truth Social account page. The alleged post is likely a parody of previous statements…

Did the Arizona Senate bring indictments against Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Runbeck Election Services, banks and local police for election fraud and other crimes? No, that's not true: The Arizona Senate is not authorized to issue indictments, the state Senate GOP spokesperson told Lead Stories. The video shown in the social-media post that made the claim…

Did former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley shed her birth name? No, that's not true: Haley, whose birth name is Nimrata (also spelled "Nimarata") Nikki Randhawa, has explained that the middle name on her birth certificate is "Nikki". Like other married women, she changed her last name when she married her husband Michael Haley. The claim…

Is a massive jump in Rep. Nancy Pelosi's net worth proof that she engaged in some sort of illegal activity? No, that's not true: Although it may be true that Pelosi's net worth has increased sharply since 2007, when she became the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, such an increase does not prove her gains were…

Did Fox News broadcast a report displaying an image of an Asian man suspected of fatally shooting a person with a chyron that reads, "Shooter described 'mostly white Asian male'"? No, that's not true: A Fox News spokesperson told Lead Stories that this image "was never broadcasted on Fox News and is not authentic." The claim appeared in an Instagram…

Did Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump pose for a photo in a room that has surgical bone saws hanging on the walls? No, that's not true: The image of the couple has been doctored and the bone saws have been added to the photo, likely as a commentary on Kushner's business relationship with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud,…

Is former President Donald Trump facing the possibility of the death penalty in the four indictments against him? No, that's not true: Lead Stories spoke to three legal experts who told us that none of the charges against Trump carries the death penalty if convicted. While one charge, "Conspiracy against rights," can be eligible for the death penalty, that's only…

Did conservative TV personality Candace Owens call professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe an "angry toddler" while debating Rapinoe on a segment of her show, "Candace"? No, that's not true: A representative of Rapinoe told Lead Stories this is "false information." Also, this claim appeared in an article on a satirical website known for publishing fabricated content. The claim appeared in…

Is an image of Donald Trump in a black pin-stripe suit the real mug shot taken after he was surrendered and was arrested in Atlanta on August 24, 2023? No, that's not true: The image is fake and according to an AI detection website is 99 percent likely to have been generated by artificial intelligence. Trump's real mug shot was…

Does a photo show a real mug shot for former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: No mug shot had yet been taken of Trump for any of his court cases as of August 16, 2023. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Twitter on August 15, 2023. It opened: #Indicted. Over 80 times. And now indictments…

Did a beat-up and bloodied man in a booking photo distributed on social media take part in the August 5, 2023, brawl on the Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront that was sparked by his refusal to move his pontoon boat and allow a large riverboat to dock? No, that's not true: This booking photo dates back to September 20, 2020, and shows…

Did former Vice President Mike Pence, who is a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, carry a rainbow flag in a parade while dressed in a white suit with a rainbow-striped shirt? No, that's not true: This is an AI-generated image. The image features characteristic AI flaws in the rendering of Pence's right hand, and the AI detection tool…

Is a video that warns about what the "deep state" could be doing to subvert democracy in the United States an official Donald Trump presidential campaign ad? No, that's not true: The caption on the screen of the video implies that it was produced and/or released by the Trump campaign but it was posted on a Twitter account whose owner…