United States

Does a genuine U.S. government document show that Rafael Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz's father, was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? No, that's not true: The document is fake. The real record contains a report from Swiss police regarding Lee Harvey Oswald's plan to study at a school in Switzerland. The document appeared in a post (archived…

Does a video show a long line of military trucks in Texas hauling tanks to the U.S. southern border in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency in 2025? No, that's not true: The video dates back to August 2024 and does not show events in the U.S. The footage shows a military…

Does a collection of still images demonstrate that other politicians have made the same gesture as Elon Musk did at the closing of his speech at President Donald Trump's inauguration rally in 2025? No, that's not true: These photos do show real moments in time, and they are authentic -- but they do not capture the full context in which…

Did a Mississippi state senator file a bill in a sincere attempt to bar men from masturbating? No, that's not true: Bradford Blackmon said he introduced Senate Bill 2319 to highlight what he described as "double standards" in laws affecting men and women. Blackmon said in a press statement, "When a bill has been filed that would regulate what a…

Does a clip authentically show U.S. military vehicles patrolling the U.S. border? No, that's not true: The video was generated by AI. An account self-described as an "AI Creater" originally posted the video. The clip also contained discrepancies strongly pointing to AI and included the watermark of an AI creation program. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Would a proposed constitutional amendment by a Republican congressman meant to help President Donald Trump serve a third term also allow Barack Obama to be elected president again? No, that's not true: The proposal specifies that only presidents who have not served two consecutive presidential terms would be eligible to be elected for a third term. Obama was president for…

Does a viral post prove that the Minnesota governor and former running mate of Kamala Harris performed a Nazi salute in public? No, that's not true: The post took a single frame from a video out of context. As the recording proves, it was part of a longer movement, not a separate gesture. Walz put his hand in the air…

Does U.S. law allow for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be extradited to Russia? No, that's not true: A notoriously unreliable website that published a story about Putin supposedly demanding such an extradition did not offer any named sources or specifics regarding alleged charges. Lawyers who specialize in extradition told Lead Stories that there's no legal basis to send an American…

Did Elon Musk post on X that the MAGA movement would "succeed in all the ways Nazi Germany failed"? No, that's not true: A screenshot of a supposed post from Musk on X containing that quote is fake. Searches of Musk's X account and archived versions of the account found nothing to confirm Musk posted such a statement. A screenshot…

Does a video show President Donald Trump saying "I don't care" about the economy in an interview with Fox News? No, that's not true: Trump's response of "I don't care" to Sean Hannity was not about the economy, he was saying it didn't matter to him that the TV host was running out of time and wanted to change the…

Did a running "DOGE Clock" on a website that monitors the national debt say efforts to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse had already saved over $8 billion by January 22, 2025? No, that's not true: The privately run website includes a disclaimer that the DOGE Clock shows the "Real-Time Savings Objective," not actual savings. Congress has yet to pass…

Does an authentic image show Taylor Swift giving a right-handed salute similar to the gesture used by Nazis? No, that's not true: The image has been horizontally flipped to make it look like Swift had performed a right-handed salute, a defining characteristic of the Nazi "Sieg Heil" gesture. Archived video shows Swift, wearing the same outfit with the same hairstyle,…

Does a video show people in January 2025 fleeing from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid? No, that's not true: The video shows men running near a construction site in 2024 or earlier. The building seen in the video was finished before September 2024, according to images on Google Maps. The implied claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Does an image being spread on social media show Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez performing a Nazi salute? No, that's not true: It's a still from a video captured while Ocasio-Cortez was reaching out to another member of Congress. It shows Ocasio-Cortez reaching out to hug Sen. Ed Markey at a Green New Deal rally in February 2024 where he was introducing…

Does a video that shows an entire city engulfed in flames as a dozen helicopters hover overhead authentically capture a scene from the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025? No, that's not true: Multiple online artificial intelligence detectors judged that this video and its audio -- with a lone siren blaring and the crackling sound of fires burning in the…

Did a video show "over 1,000" migrants entering the United States through the southern border shortly after President Donald Trump's second inauguration? No, that's not true: This video was posted on X in March 2023, a reverse image search showed. An online news search did not yield any evidence that the events in this video took place in January 2025.…

Did Instagram and its parent company, Meta, force users to follow Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The accounts in question are reserved for the sitting vice president and president, respectively. Ownership was transferred to the leaders shortly after they assumed office. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram on January 21, 2025.…

Does a viral clip offer proof that the January 2025 California wildfires followed the same path as the planned California high-speed rail system?No, that's not true: The clip repeated a recycled falsehood from 2018. It showed an old 2018 map that depicted areas in a "red flag warning zone" of increased fire risk, not actual fires. The claim reappeared in…

Does a viral clip authentically show Donald Trump's son Barron "whispering something to Biden" during his father's second inauguration on January 20, 2025? No, that's not true: The cropped video misled viewers about the scene's content. The footage of the same scene shot from a different angle showed that at that particular moment Trump's son spoke to outgoing Vice President…

Did the set for ABC's talk show "The View" burn down amid the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the show told Lead Stories that the program has always been based in New York City. The website where the rumor appeared describes itself as specializing in "Satire and Parody." The image in the social…