Politics

Did Hillary Clinton tweet "WHAT THE FUCK???" in response to a Democratic Party tweet calling for the release of the Epstein files? No, that's not true: The Democrat.org tweet is real, but there is no evidence that the former secretary of state posted a reply. A search of Clinton's X account failed to find any usage of the F-word in…

Does a viral video show Israeli soldiers celebrating the 2024 release of comrades who had been detained in connection with charges that nine soldiers had raped a Palestinian at a desert prison camp? No, that's not true: The video was first posted to X on November 10, 2023 and depicts a rowdy party unrelated to the Sde Teiman camp rape…

Did a Texas city require residents to sign an "Israel loyalty pledge" in order to be eligible to get relief funds after deadly floods in 2025? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that any Texas town or county impacted by the deadly flooding of July 2025 established any such loyalty pledge. The meme making the claim did not…

Were the parents of Rep. Ilhan Omar ordered into immigration court to answer allegations that they falsified records to make them eligible for refugee status? No, that's not true: The meme spreading that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer and a warning that all the contents of the page are made up. The owner of the…

Did Italy withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, following the path of the United States? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the most recent version of the document, updated July 9, 2025, still names Italy as one of the treaty's participants. Neither the authorities nor credible media organizations reported the purported withdrawal. The claim appeared in a post…

Did a reporter ask President Donald Trump whether he would self-deport, in light of his plan to end birthright citizenship? No, that's not true: A viral video on TikTok fabricated quotes from an unnamed reporter. A clip of Trump saying "Don't ask me questions like that" was actually recorded in 2016, and had to do with his stance on abortion.…

Does a video shared on social platforms show Greta Thunberg dancing to Madonna's "La Isla Bonita"? No, that's not true: A reverse image search revealed the video was created by a group of Ukrainian video makers known as Cucumber Mafia. The dancing woman does not look like Thunberg and appears to be much older than twenty-two, which was Thunberg's age…

Are Los Angeles's massive traffic jams gone because of the mass deportations of illegal immigrants that are under way? No, that's not true: Google Maps showed lots of red and orange on Los Angeles highways, indicating clogged traffic, during the evening rush hour on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. A map screenshot purportedly of the previous evening's rush hour included in…

Does a viral video document ICE agents seizing undocumented children from foster care to deport them? No, that's not true: It's a montage of unrelated clips about alleged juvenile crimes, disorderly behavior at school and other situations with no apparent connection to immigration roundups. The video's narrator provides no dates, places, case numbers or other information to permit independent corroboration…

Did Elon Musk post on X that Steve Bannon is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files? Yes, that's true: Musk posted the claim as a comment when he reposted an X post by Roger Stone, which also included a 2024 article about Bannon's relationship with Epstein. Musk and Bannon have been feuding on social media in recent weeks following Musk's…

Did Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett announce she donated $25 million to victims of the flash floods that hit her home state over the July 4th, 2025 holiday weekend? No, that's not true: Thanks to earlier fact checks that reviewed her public financial disclosures, it's clear that Crockett does not have enough wealth to fund a gift of that magnitude. We…

Is one minute missing from the video posted by the Department of Justice showing the hallway outside the jail cell where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead? Yes, that's true: The 10-hour-long closed-circuit camera video posted on the Justice Department website on July 3, 2025, jumps from 11:58:58 p.m. on August 9, 2019, to 12:00:00 a.m. on August 10, 2019. The…

Does a viral video really show body camera footage of a "crazy Karen" being arrested for keying a Tesla and shooting the driver's side three times with a handgun? No, that's not true: The "Axon bodycam" timestamp in the video is a fake that does not match the struck-through zeroes seen in real police video time stamps. The bullet holes…

Does a viral video show actual incinerators being installed at the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention facility in Florida? No, that's not true: The footage of large metal containers in the video was recorded in Minnesota in 2024. There are no media reports about incinerators being installed at the time of writing and a DHS spokesperson called the rumor "beyond disgusting".…

Does an image show the White House just "turned all red" and is this cause for a "major alert" somehow? No, that's not true: the photo used in a viral social media post is a screencap from a 2022 video. That footage showed the White House lit in orange to "raise gun violence awareness" on National Gun Violence Awareness Day.…

Did a TikTok video shared widely in July 2025 accurately claim that shackled bodies found in Europe were deportees from the U.S. that ICE had dropped into the ocean from planes? Here's what we know: Lead Stories has so far found no evidence to support that shocking claim. Spain's Civil Guard told Lead Stories that "ICE deportations flights from the…

Did a federal judge in June 2025 give the green light to a $350 million class-action lawsuit against Rep. Nancy Pelosi by 500 January 6th defendants? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. A search of news archives showed that the rumor was not even inadvertently accurate. The claim appeared in a…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write on Truth Social that he regretted taking "advise" from tech billionaire Elon Musk, and affirm that there was no "white genocide" in South Africa? No, that's not true: A screenshot shared widely in July 2025 was digitally edited. An archive of the president's account on Truth Social showed that such a post never existed.…

Was President Donald Trump's son Barron drafted into the military as of June 30, 2025? No, that's not true: According to the Selective Service website, the United States hasn't drafted anyone for more than half a century, as of this writing. Footage presented as a report by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, on the supposed drafting, was fake. The claim originated in…

Did White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt "end up exposing herself on live national TV" after NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake dramatically sought to "correct the record" during a briefing? No, that's not entirely true: In March 2025, Haake did briefly fact-check Leavitt's description of a federal judge as an Obama appointee. However, a widely-shared June 2025 blog post exaggerated…