Plus: Israel recovers the final hostage body, and the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln arrives in the Middle East.
Here are the latest articles published by U.S. fact-checking sites:
The Dispatch→ ICE’s Siege Mentality
Plus: Rebuilding Mosul, Iraq.
The Dispatch→ Analyzing ICE Shootings
Insights into the Fourth Amendment.
The Dispatch→ Trump’s Board of Peace and the Limits of Reconstruction
Half-measures toward disarming and replacing Hamas will set the stage for another cycle of war.
The Dispatch→ America’s Missing Soft Power
How the Trump administration has surrendered foreign policy tools for facilitating democracy.
The Dispatch→ Assessing President Trump’s Plan to Lower Health Care Costs
Rising health costs have deep roots and can’t be fixed with superficial changes.
The Dispatch→ John Cornyn’s Texas-Sized Primary Challenge
Can the traditionally conservative incumbent hold off two challengers?
The Dispatch→ Gun-Blaming in Minneapolis
Bad policy and irresponsible firearm-handling are a lethal combination.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Anti-ICE Protesters Did NOT Beat Up Staff At Minneapolis Hotel, NOT TRUE That ‘Police Never Came’
Did a social media post correctly report that anti-ICE protesters at a hotel in Minneapolis started "beating up the staff because two ICE officers were staying there" and that local police were absent from the scene? No, that's not true:
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Photo Of Man In Pink Dress And Crown Is NOT Alex Pretti — Altered Image Of Ben Taylor, Creator Of ‘Fishtank’ Reality Show
Is the image of a man dressed in a pink dress wearing a gold crown a real photo of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old man shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota? No, that's not true: The person shown wearing the pink dress is an altered
FactCheck.org→ Video Analyses at Odds with DHS Statements on Minneapolis Shooting
The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t provided evidence for some statements administration officials made within hours of the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, and some of those statements&nbs
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: AI-Altered Image Of Immigration Officers’ Scuffle With Alex Pretti Is NOT A Reliable Picture Of The Scene — Pulled From Blurry Video
Does a high resolution image of the scuffle between immigration officers and Alex Pretti provide a more clear picture of what happened just before Pretti was shot? No, that's not true: This AI-enhanced image was created from an extremely
The Dispatch→ Tread on Me
Alex Pretti and the end of conservatism.
PolitiFact→ Donald Trump – Critics of Minnesota anti-ICE protests falsely call protesters paid
Protesters against the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota are conducting “fake protests done by agitators and professional insurrectionists. …They're professional troublemakers.”
PolitiFact→ Social Media – Don’t worry: ‘Exploding trees’ aren’t what they sound like
Trees can explode if temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero.
The Dispatch→ Tucker Stopped Believing in Lines | Interview: Jason Zengerle
From good journalism, to clickbait, to Nazism.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Truth Social Image Of Trump Calling For ‘Kill Switch’ On Phones So ICE Can ‘Kill’ Video Recording Is Satire
Did President Trump post on his Truth Social account a call for cellphone companies to add software kill switches to phone cameras so ICE and "my SS" could "kill" video recording and sharing? No, that's not true: The image, which also con
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Photo Of Man In Drag Is NOT Alex Pretti, ICU Nurse Shot And Killed By ICE In Minneapolis
Is the image of a man dressed in drag a real photo of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old man shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota? No, that's not true: The person shown wearing a silver skirt and bra with rainbow-colored hair while holdin
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Conservative Commentator Evan Kilgore DENIES Social Media Posts Saying That He Was Officer Who Shot And Killed Alex Pretti In Minneapolis — Agent Timeline Doesn’t Match Kilgore Career Changes
Was Evan Kilgore the federal agent who shot and killed U.S. citizen and registered nurse Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement raid in Minneapolis? No, that's not true: Kilgore denied he worked for immigration enforcement agencies
PolitiFact→ Social Media – Social media posts misidentify Alex Pretti shooter as Evan Kilgore
Evan Kilgore is one of the Border Patrol agents who shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
PolitiFact→ Social Media – No, Donald Trump didn’t post that ‘only criminals carry guns.’ It’s a fake Truth Social post
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “Only criminals carry guns on our streets, we need law and order.”
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show ICE Raiding Home Without A Warrant After Man Shouted They Shouldn’t ‘Smack’ His Neighbor — It’s Columbus SWAT In 2019
Does a video show ICE agents raiding a man's home without a warrant after he shouted about ICE's treatment of his neighbor, saying they "ain't supposed to smack him like that"? No, that's not true: The video shared in January 2026 with cl
PolitiFact→ Fact-check: Trump officials’ statements about Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting by Border Patrol agent
Fact-check: Trump officials’ Alex Pretti claims vs. video
Full Fact→ Nigel Farage said Trump’s comments about NATO troops in Afghanistan were ‘wrong’
There’s absolutely no evidence for claims on social media that the Reform UK leader said Donald Trump’s comments about NATO troops were “correct”. He’s on the record as saying he disagreed with them.
Full Fact→ Tesco isn’t offering a £3 ‘Meat Box’
False claims that Tesco is offering a box full of meat products for £3, either as a new online promotion or for filling out a survey, have been shared on Facebook.
Full Fact→ Fake deal for £10 metal detector from Go Outdoors shared online
Posts and an advert on Facebook are falsely claiming that people aged 40 and older can get a metal detector for £10 from Go Outdoors after filling in a survey.
Full Fact→ Figures used in social media posts comparing prices in 2000 to 2026 are not quite right
Posts shared on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube make a number of comparisons between prices of things like energy in 2000 and 2026, but some of the figures used are incorrect.
Full Fact→ Unevidenced quote Donald Trump’s mother said he’d be a ‘disaster’ in politics circulates again
An image of President Trump and his mother is being shared on social media alongside an unsubstantiated quote in which she criticises him.
The Dispatch→ A Modest Proposal
There’s something funny about these ‘heritage Americans.’
The Dispatch→ Can Europe Constrain Trump?
Plus: Border Patrol kills a protester in Minneapolis, and Xi Jinping purges Chinese military command.
The Dispatch→ A Chapter in the American Spellbook
‘Fascist’ is a political term. It’s also an incantation.
The Dispatch→ The Long Slide
A new book on Tucker Carlson shows the dark power of breaking norms for clicks.
The Dispatch→ The Pro-Life Movement Finally Pushes Back Against Trump
Abortion opponents recoil at the president's call for ‘flexibility’ on taxpayer-funded abortion and inaction on Biden abortion pill rules.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fake Stories About Celebrities Saying Alex Pretti, Fatally Shot By ICE Agents, Was A Relative Are Spam From Vietnam
Did Tom Brady and three dozen other sports and entertainment celebrities confirm that Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse fatally shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis, was a relative? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Karoline Leavitt, Sunny Hostin, Or Whoopi Goldberg Did NOT Say Your Favorite Artist Is ‘Just A Musician’ — It’s Viet Spam Clickbait
Did either Karoline Leavitt, Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg, or Joy Behar say that Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, or a dozen other major artists is "just a musician"? No, that's not true: The claim was made abo
The Dispatch→ The Religion Underneath Our Arguments
What we fight about is not really what we disagree about.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fake Trump Post Image About ‘Only Criminals’ Carrying ‘Guns On Our Streets’ NOT Actual Truth Social Post After Minneapolis Shooting
Did President Trump post on Truth Social that "HE HAD A GUN, ONLY CRIMINALS CARRY GUNS ON OUR STREETS, WE NEED LAW AND ORDER" as a viral screenshot claims? No, that's not true: The image, which also contained the signature "Thank you for
Lead Stories→ What We Know About Claim Alex Pretti, Was Disarmed Seconds Before He Was Shot and Killed by Immigration Agent
Does video show a federal immigration agent taking a gun away from Alex Pretti two seconds before another agent began shooting Pretti? A frame-by-frame look at the first viral video of the incident shared on social media does show a feder
The Dispatch→ Our Best Stuff From the Week We Didn’t Seize Greenland
President Trump returns from Davos empty-handed.
The Dispatch→ Old Color for a Gray New World
Depression glass, a musical renaissance, and hotels. (And more hotels.)