Politics

Does Canada get 95 percent of its imports from the United States? No, that's not true: According to Statistics Canada, the national statistical office, the U.S. was the source of 62.2 percent of Canada's total imports in 2024, not 95 percent. Additionally, about 76 percent of Canada's exports go to the U.S. The claim appeared in a video published on…

Did Carrie Underwood win a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against "The View" or did she even sue them? No, that's not true: The story alleging there was a lawsuit involving comments on "The View" about Underwood's performance at President Trump's inauguration was put out by a number of clickbait channels on YouTube, but it was not backed up by any sources…

Did Sheriff Joe Arpaio hold a press conference on Barack Obama's birth certificate in February 2025? No, that's not true: The posted footage of the press conference held by the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona is from 2016, not 2025 as is implied by a post on social media. The press conference was documented by local media in 2016.…

Did the Trump administration ban Julianne Moore's book "Freckleface Strawberry" from Department of Defense schools? No, that's not true: A Department of Defense spokesperson said, "We are conducting a review -- no materials have been permanently removed from our school libraries pending completion of the review." The review process began due to executive orders from President Donald Trump and guidance…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump say that Ukraine started the war with Russia? Yes, that's true: On February 18, 2025, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence, he said that Ukraine should have never started the war. That followed talks between the U.S. and Russia without the participation of Ukraine. The statement that is the focus of this story appeared in a…

Did USAID pay Nintendo of America over $9 million "to promote the inclusion of adults in children's media, to study infantilism and the Peter Pan Syndrome"? No, that's not true: The image circulating on social media is fake. A search of the website usaspending.gov does not show any such payment to Nintendo of America Inc. The fabricated image resembling official…

Was an image of a magazine cover featuring a painting of President Trump wearing a crown and the slogan "Long live the king" authentically posted by the White House? Yes, that's true: The image featured a backdrop of iconic New York buildings and used the same font and distinctive red border used by Time magazine. Detection tools say the image…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's approval rating plummet to 4 percent, as of February 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no publicly available poll confirming the figure voiced by President Donald Trump on February 18, 2025. The White House did not reply to a Lead Stories request to disclose the basis for Trump's statement. The claim originated from…

Is the MSNBC television program hosted by the former White House press secretary named "Inside Jen Psaki"? No, that's not true: The program is called "Inside With Jen Psaki." An image circulating on social media had been digitally edited to remove the word "with." The edited image appears in a post (archived here) on X on February 18, 2025. It…

Did the claim that DOGE forwarded the names of 163 members of Congress to the IRS for "Immediate Audit" and that 156 of them were Democrats originate on an actual news website? No, that's not true: The meme featured a fake, cartoonish DOGE logo and came from a satirical Facebook page. The owner of the page is known for tricking…

Does a viral photo accurately portray Argentinian President Javier Milei's sister Karina Milei? No, that's not true: The image has been heavily edited to completely change her face. The original image was taken in 2023 and shows completely different facial features, notably the eyes, nose and mouth. An example of the image appeared in a post on X (archived here)…

Has the Trump administration proposed payment of a 2025 economic stimulus check to Americans, as multiple social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Viral social media posts circulating in February 2025 built traffic by spreading the rumor that stimulus checks of up to $8,000 were soon to be distributed. But there is no public record of President Donald Trump…

Has the DOGE team caused a "very real exodus" from the Washington, D.C., area as evidenced by a big surge in the number of homes listed for sale in the market? No, that's not true: The number of new residential real estate listings in the market in the first two weeks of February 2025 is almost exactly the same as…

Did the former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, see her net worth increase by $23 million in three years? No, that's not true: Public financial records don't show anything close to that kind of an increase between 2021 and 2024. Based on Lead Stories' calculations, her net worth was essentially in the same range during…

Do viral clips circulating on social media prove that AfD is missing on the authentic ballots in the city of Leipzig, Germany? No, that's not true: The publicly available sample ballot still listed AfD the day the claim began to spread. A press release from Leipzig authorities described what the videos showed as "fake ballots" and ruled out printing errors.…

Did Global Affairs Canada delete its foreign aid database? No, that's not true: The Canadian government's X account stated that no data was deleted and that it was only experiencing technical problems. The database was publicly available at the time of writing. Lead Stories was able to access the database through its website. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Did Senator Mitch McConnell die on February 17, 2025 at the age of eighty-two? No, that's not true: A post announcing McConnell's death was published by a parody account spoofing the real account Breaking 911. The spoof account has a disclaimer which says, "Parody artist. If you fell for my bait, you owe me eight dollars." As of February 18,…

Is there such a thing as a "Treasury Access Symbol" (TAS) as a post from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on X said? No, that's not true: The post contained a typo and the document it linked to refers to something called a "Treasury Account Symbol" (TAS). Google shows no use of the term "Treasury Access Symbol" before the…

Was TV host Joy Behar arrested at the airport trying to flee the country after a $50M lawsuit involving comments about White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt? No, that's not true: The story narrated in a viral video was written by AI according to online detection tools, and there have been no actual news reports about any such lawsuit. An…

Did Germans students participating in a mock federal election known as U18, for people under 18, overwhelmingly vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, resulting in a sweep by a "massive majority" in every polling district? No, that's not true: A graph shared on social media shows the results of one polling place. While the AfD did win…