Did Massachusetts election officials destroy more than 1 million ballots in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, as alleged by losing candidate V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai? No, that is not true. Election officials in the state told Lead Stories that it was "election misinformation" and that not even 300,000 ballots were cast in that race by Republicans. By law, state officials cannot…

Did Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior advisor to the President, delete all his tweets after an explosive New York Times story was published on Trump's purported extremely low or nonexistant tax payments? No, that's not true: Kushner did not delete all his tweets after the story broke, because he did not have any tweets to delete. Internet archives show that…

Did Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden say at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Sept. 20, 2020 that 200 million people would be dead from the Covid-19 virus by the end of his speech? Yes, that's true: Biden misspoke, and corrected himself a few minutes later. Biden's gaffe was called out in a video clip posted to the Donald J.…

Did President Trump post a homophobic and racist tweet about his phone call with Colby Covington, an MMA fighter and fervent Trump supporter? No, that's not true: It is a fabricated tweet created by a satire site. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published by @mmamafia on Sept. 22, 2020 with the caption, "Lmfao (Credit: @thesportrag) #ufc…

Is Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's wife the granddaughter of Sen. Mitch McConnell? No, that's not true. A rumor went viral that Mackenze Evans was the granddaughter of the Republican Senate majority leader. Cameron's spokeswoman, Elizabeth Kuhn, told Lead Stories that was "false." There is also no support for the claim she is the senator's niece. The claim appeared as…

Did President Trump post a tweet that said it was "not fair for a president to leave office because of BAD votes" and that "the Supreme Court should decide the presidency"? No, that's not true: It is a fake tweet that was shared as real on social platforms just a day after the president made a real comment refusing to…

Did U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's father get "caught" operating a coal-carrying cargo ship that was captured by the Colombian coast guard with 90 pounds of cocaine aboard? No, that is not true. While a cargo ship was stopped with 87.7 pounds of cocaine in 2014, and Chao's father's company had ties to the ship, he was not "caught" operating…

Does President Trump have 26 active lawsuits against him alleging sexual assault, including seven that accuse Trump of sexually abusing children? No, that's not true. While some reports have indeed put the number of allegations against Trump at 26 since the 1970s, not all have been filed in court. Also, there is only one claim that Trump abused a child…

Did Donald Trump tweet "Obama should wait until he leaves office to pick another Justice! If he doesn't, he should be fired!" in April 2016 about an election year Supreme Court vacancy? No, that's not true. This is a fake tweet that Trump never sent, according to the archive of his tweets. The fake tweet is gaining traction amid the…

Did Facebook delete a photo of first lady Melania Trump, her sister and her mother? No, that's not true: The photo that was purportedly deleted (it wasn't) showed the first lady, her sister, and a philanthropist named Audrey Gruss -- not Melania Trump's mother. Facebook said it found no evidence of deletion. Some versions of the image were labeled as…

Did Time Magazine publish a cover calling Donald Trump the worst president ever and saying he has "disgraced the highest office in the nation"? No, that's not true: A meme making the claim features a fake cover image. The claim appeared in a post shared on September 18, 2020 by a Facebook page named "CAKE" (archived here) with following text…

Is Donald Trump a rapist and a pedophile? There's no proof this is true: The claims are based on allegations and lawsuits that have been recanted, dismissed or remain ongoing. They remain unproven in a court of law. The claims appeared in a tweet (archived here), posted by actress Debra Messing on Sept. 15, 2020. It read: Trump is a…

Was an official absentee ballot application with Trump campaign advertisements all over it sent to a woman by the local elections office? No, that's not true: Ballot applications can be sent out by groups other than local board of elections. A mailing with campaign ads would have come from a group supporting a campaign, not from the nonpartisan elections office.…

Is Ohio setting up FEMA camps to separate children from parents during the COVID-19 outbreak? No, that's not true. Gov. Mike DeWine shot down the claims that the state would be forcing parents with coronavirus and children to be split up and put into FEMA camps, calling the rumors "garbage" and "ridiculous." The claim appeared in an article published by…

Was President Trump videotaped while disoriented and aimlessly wandering after talking to reporters? No, that's not true: The full video clearly shows that Trump was walking away from the reporters toward where he would join hands with first lady Melania Trump, and then they would board Marine One together. The viral video clip ends before the first lady enters the…

Did former President Richard M. Nixon pardon the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, on multiple charges including treason? No, this is not true. McCain -- who is hailed by many as a hero for his service and surviving captivity during the Vietnam War but who has been disparaged by President Trump -- was…

Has former U.S. President George W. Bush said he supports the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? No, that's not true: While Bush has said he would not support Donald Trump's reelection campaign, he has not endorsed Biden and Harris, as of September 5, 2020. The claim appeared in a meme in a post shared on August…

Did Lewis Latimer, an African-American man from Massachusetts who was bought from slavery, invent the light bulb and telephone? No, that's not true: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb. But, Latimer did play an important role in helping both inventions become more refined and patented in the late 1800s. Democratic presidential nominee…

Did Facebook ban all Trump campaign ads? No, that's not true: Facebook has banned Trump ads with a symbol used by Nazis, that contained a newspaper photo used without permission that was untruthful in what it depicted, that had misleading information about the U.S. Census; and a video that gave incorrect information about the coronavirus but other ads have not…

Did President Donald Trump claim Americans are "going to die" when he's not president and call his staff "stupid" in a television interview? No, that's not true: a video -- posted by an anti-Trump political action committee -- deceptively snipped footage from Trump's Aug. 31 interview with FOX News host Laura Ingraham, taking his words out of context. The claim…