Politics

Did U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy say in a Fox News interview in November 2025 that "Pilots need to stop depending on air traffic controllers. They need to suck it up and go with their gut feelings"? No, that's not true: There is no video, documentation, or reporting to support the claim Duffy said this, but such a controversial statement…

Did the New York Stock Exchange react to Zohran Mamdani's victory in the mayoral election by relocating to Texas from its 230-year base on New York City's Wall Street? No, that's not true: Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, announced in February, when polls showed Mamdani with a single-digit pool of support, that…

Did New York City's Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, his team or any credible media outlets announce that the incoming city administration plans to convert Trump Tower into a homeless shelter? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find a confirmation supporting the existence of such a plan on the pages officially affiliated with Mamdani. No credible media outlets reported the…

Did the construction firm in charge of the White House East Wing demolition call out President Trump over unpaid balances for their services in demolishing the historic building? No, that's not true: The website that made the claim is full of fake clickbait stories. The text of the article appears to be likely AI generated. The company mentioned in the…

Has the cost to serve Thanksgiving dinner "under Trump" dropped 25% since 2024 "under Biden"? A post from the White House says that, but the post compares the 2025 Thanksgiving dinner promo from Walmart to the one offered in 2024. The two promos do have different prices, but they also do not include the same menu items. The official White…

Did an exit poll show that 92% of California voters thought Proposition 50 was a ballot measure to impeach President Trump? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a post on a satiric X account on which the original poster of the 92% claim repeatedly made it clear he was being sarcastic. There is no publicly available exit poll…

Did NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani announce a bitcoin tax on all New Yorkers just days after the Nov. 4 election? No, that's not true: This is a made-up story with no verifiable details. The text in the post appears to be AI-generated. There are no legitimate news reports about Mamdani announcing a bitcoin tax. The story originated in a November…

Is a video showing a U.S. Marine pushing President Donald Trump up the steps into the Marine One helicopter real? No, that's not true: A full version of the video shows the president's pants splitting, exposing a large hole in his underwear and the Marine's uniform is not authentic. It was obviously created by an artificial intelligence tool. The earliest…

Was there a massive walkout at the NYPD the day after a new mayor was elected in New York City? No, that's not true: "There is no walkout," a spokesperson with the NYPD told Lead Stories. The claim was made by a congressional candidate based in Texas without any proof or evidence. There are no actual news reports of the…

Did Donald Trump dismiss a longtime Secret Service food tester after JD Vance saw the agent sprinkle an unidentified spice on the President's meal when they were dining out in DC? No, that's not true: There is no evidence supporting this story. In his second term Donald Trump had only eaten out in DC on one occasion, on Sept. 9,…

Did retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz publicly promise to "blow his brains out on live TV" if Zohran Mamdani wins the 2025 mayoral election in New York City? No, that's not true: Dershowitz denied that on his social media account. A search for the origins of the image showing the purported quote led to a summer 2025 story…

Has a New Jersey supermarket shuttered its windows ever since Nov. 1, 2025 when SNAP payments were cut off? No, that's not true: The store had not, at the time this was written, closed because of a delay in the dispersal of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. The store manager told Lead Stories they have been open during their…

Does a viral video capture a grocery theft related to the freeze of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, in November 2025? No, that's not true: A search for the origins of the video showed that it had been online for more than a year before the 2025 SNAP freeze. The video mentioned that the scene in…

Is the repeated appearance of a candidate's name on election ballots in the 2025 New York City mayoral election against the rules? No, that's not true: New York City Board of Elections staff told Lead Stories that those candidates are the nominees of two political parties. That can legally include running as the nominee of two officially recognized parties or…

Did Arizona teachers mock the murder of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk by wearing 'Problem Solved' T-shirts covered in what looked like artificial blood? No, that's not true: According to the school district's superintendent, in a since-deleted Facebook post reported on by local media outlets, the T-shirts predated the assassination of Turning Point USA Co-Founder Kirk by more than…

Did a welfare recipient's online brag about her $50-a-month taxpayer-subsidized rent get her evicted after angry social media users reported her to "housing" officials? No, none of that is true: It's rage bait. The character seen in a series of posts sought traffic to her social media accounts by creating posts intended to goad social media users enough to repost…

Did a video of a social media user claiming to be about to cast a ballot for Zohran Mamdani "six or seven times" in the 2025 New York City mayoral election capture a self-incriminating admission of voter fraud? No, that's not true: The clip was part of a viral trend in which people would post videos of themselves saying "six…

Is this real video of an EBT glitch at a Louisiana Walmart and does it have anything to do with SNAP cuts in 2025? No, that's not true: The entire viral video was made using artificial intelligence and a claim it was filmed in 2013 in Mansfield and Springhill was hallucinated by Grok. The video contains several artifacts typical of…

Does a viral picture of an inflatable JD Vance show what the White House Halloween decorations looked like in October 2025? No, that's not true: The image was not an authentic photograph. It originated from an AI-generated video showing such unrealistic scenes as a running inflatable JD Vance or a woman flying a broomstick. The claim appeared in a post…

Did the Henry Ford Health system withhold from publication a study that compared the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, despite that study being statistically sound? No, that's not true: medical research experts reviewed the data and found a mismatch between comparison groups that made comparisons invalid. The Henry Ford Health system said its internal review of the draft paper…