Fact Check

Did the Associated Press publish a fact check titled 'No, Ghislaine Maxwell did not own a horse named "Bubba"' and did it mention her having a golden retriever at the time? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot showing such a headline along with AP's logo and mentioning Jeffrey Epstein is fake. There is no such story on the Associated…

Was Mark Epstein referring to a horse named "Bubba" in an email to his brother Jeffrey Epstein when he wrote "Ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Mark Epstein told Lead Stories in a phone call the 2018 message was not about a horse. The claim that it was…

Did a viral video really show dead bodies moving on their own in a morgue? No, that's not true: The video, showing four different scenes of bodies appearing to move their legs as four different women sat next to them writing some kind of report or doing paperwork, had the typical glitches of footage generated using artificial intelligence. A specialized…

Is a video of Donald Trump touching and patting Bill Clinton's crotch authentic? No, that's not true: The first frame of the six-second clip is a real image of Trump and Clinton at a golf tournament in 2000 that was released by the Clinton Library in 2016. The rest of the video was created by an artificial intelligence tool, which…

Did Sweden start using a red beet-and-starch-based, food-grade de-icing solution on a large scale to combat road icing and save birds suffering from road salt poisoning? No, that's not true: The Swedish Transport Administration website has a page that explains the the agency did not switch to a new red salt. Lead Stories found no news articles reporting such a…

Is the story true of a 91-year-old woman named Helen who was arrested and jailed in a hospital gown for shoplifting prescription medicine for her ailing husband? No, that's not true: There is no evidence or proof given to back up the details in a viral post. The image of the woman standing in a hospital gown in front of…

Does a video show a true story about a veteran who shot three teens who were attempting to rob him and was then charged with murder? No, that's not true: The details of this story do not match a real case. The video uses clips from several unrelated news reports. In 2019, there was a Georgia homeowner who fatally shot…

Does a video show a real-life scene of two bald eagles walking on wet concrete and leaving construction workers amazed? No, that's not true: The clip contained multiple inconsistencies strongly pointing to AI. For example, the prints left by the birds didn't match either the appearance of their feet or the number of their toes. The claim appeared in a…

Did Jeffrey Epstein's brother raise a question in a real email about if Russian President Vladimir Putin had photos of Donald Trump "blowing Bubba"? Yes, that's true: The 2018 email thread, one of the 23,000 emails released by the House GOP Oversight Committee in November 2025, referenced "DONNI TEE," "your boy Donnie," as well as "Trump." Mark Epstein sent a…

Did a "Breaking" news story show White House lawyers worried that Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Nancy Mace had recorded phone calls in which President Donald Trump "begged" them to vote against release of the Epstein files by the FBI? No, that's not true: There was no such report and the rumor started on a social media satire page. The…

Did Andrea Bocelli cancel his New York City concert after Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor, saying "I don't sing for communists"? No, that's not true: There are multiple social media posts showing Bocelli and other artists including Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Brandon Lake, Steven Tyler and George Strait with a message saying that they have canceled upcoming concerts in New…

Do Social Security cards contain a secret contract concealed in the fine print of the signature line? No, that's not true: The signature line on a Social Security card is a line of intaglio microtext which spells out the words "Social Security Administration". This is one of many anti-counterfeiting features included on the banknote paper of the Social Security card…

Did the Justice Department launch a grand jury investigation into California Governor Gavin Newsom, accused by critics of violating the Logan Act by going to a climate conference in Brazil? No, that's not true: The story's source was a fictional character, "US Attorney for North-Central California Joe Barron". The claim originated from a page warning its readers that nothing it…

Is a video of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, saying he voted to keep the government shut down because he could never say no to Chuck Schumer, real? No, that's not true: A small disclaimer at the bottom of the video acknowledges that it was made by an artificial intelligence tool. The video, which was shared on the…

Do all the collapsed bridge photos on social media really show the Nov. 11, 2025 collapse of the Hongqi bridge in southwest China? No, that's not true: The new Hongqi bridge did collapse, one day after it was closed to traffic due to the appearance of cracks. But many photos circulating on social media have been miscaptioned -- they show…

Does a real photo show the moment in 1952 that a double-decker bus jumped the widening gap of the Tower Bridge drawbridge sections as it was opened to let river traffic through? No, that's not true: While a quick-thinking driver of the London number 78 line was truly celebrated for hitting the gas and jumping the gap, the viral photo…

Does a video show a real Walmart employee getting arrested for giving milk to a baby? No, that's not true: The video is AI generated, as indicated by the brief flicker of the watermark from AI-generating app Sora on screen. As is often the case with AI-generated video, details are unrealistic: the police officer standing behind the woman getting arrested…

Was former first lady Michelle Obama videotaped executing a barbed takedown of Donald Trump on the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' show in the fall of 2025? No, that's not true: As of November 12, 2025, no such video recording existed. Michelle Obama hadn't been on Kimmel's show for years at that time. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…

Does a video of a large mass of floating plastic waste show a shoreline in Asia? No, that's not true: The garbage was flowing from a Guatemalan river in Central America, not Asia, and was flowing into the Caribbean. CBS News shared the video in 2022, reporting it was at the mouth of Rio Motagua, which is considered one of…

Did the Los Angeles Police Department charge "Daniel Reed" for sexual harassment for grabbing "Jessica Moore" to pull her back from the path of a speeding car? No, that's not true: The video showing a man grabbing a woman before she is hit by a car is from a 2020 incident in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Instagram video that carries the…