Fact-Check Reporter

Holmes Lybrand

176 articles 2017–2018

Holmes Lybrand is a journalist who served as a prolific fact-checker for The Weekly Standard during 2017–2018, contributing 176 articles focused on debunking viral misinformation, verifying political claims, and scrutinizing stories circulating on social media. He went on to work as a fact-check reporter for CNN, continuing to specialize in political fact-checking and accountability journalism.

A Nonspecific Diagnosis

October 15, 2018 · Magazine, culture, Lyme Disease

The mystery, confusion, and fear of Lyme disease

Fact Check: Were Four Police Officers Suspended for Alleged White-Power Gesture?

July 17, 2018 · White suppremacists, TWS Fact Check, Web Only

Fake News can mimic reality in such a way that people begin to incorrectly dismiss actual reports. Take this headline from the station WHNT-19 in Alabama: “Jasper officers suspended for alleged ‘white power’ gesture.” The headline is paired with an image of the symbol known widely as an “O.K.”

Fact Check: Did an Astronaut's DNA Change in Space So It No Longer Matched His Twin's?

March 15, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Today's Blogs, fact check

Nowadays the term “fake news” is usually associated with politics, but it’s worth remembering that no field is immune to the spread of misinformation. And pop-science journalism is at least as prone to distortion as political coverage, especially when simplistic headlines are exaggerated on social…

Fact Check: Did the FEC Fine the Sanders Campaign for Taking 'Illegal Contributions'?

March 6, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, 2016 Elections, Today's Blogs

An article published by CNS News alleged that the Bernie Sanders campaign was fined $14,500 by the Federal Election Commission for “accepting illegal in-kind contributions during [the] 2016 campaign.” Facebook users questioned the article and flagged it for third-party fact checkers.

Fact Check: What Really Happened With That 'Scripted' CNN Town Hall Question?

March 2, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Today's Blogs, School Shootings

After the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, CNN hosted a town hall discussion on Wednesday, February 21, which included politicians, an NRA representative, and several students of the school who posed questions to panel members.

Fact Check: Did Trump Fire a Muslim Judge for Trying to Impose Sharia?

February 28, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Donald Trump, sharia

Sometimes hoaxes work as a series, with bits of information being added one at a time and developed into a storyline. Fake news broke last summer that a Muslim judge had legalized two pieces of Sharia in Michigan. That was debunked at the time, with fact checkers pointing out that the “news” was…

Fact Check: The Florida School Shooting Forgeries

February 15, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Today's Blogs, fact check

In the wake of the tragic school shooting yesterday in Parkland, Florida fake photos began to surface, spreading misinformation and false accusations surrounding the event.

Fact Check: Does the FISA Memo Show That the FBI Was Spying on Trump?

February 9, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Donald Trump, Surveillance

The controversial FISA memo, a GOP-drafted documents alleging surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign, generated an expansive array of responses from political commentators and pundits when it was released last week. After discussing the FISA memo, Fox News’s Judge Jeanine Pirro told viewers…

Fact Check: Did John McCain Help the FBI Pay for the Steele Dossier?

February 8, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, FBI, Fake News

If ever a snare were set for a conspiracy theorist, it would most certainly be the "Steele dossier" released for public consumption by BuzzFeed in January of last year, alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. It has the perfect ingredients for a conspiracy: opposition…

Fact Check: Does New York's Governor Want to Give Dreamers Free College Tuition?

January 26, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, College Tuition, Today's Blogs

The recent federal government shutdown (bringing with it colorful talking sticks, fake news, and finger-pointing festivities) that started when the parties couldn’t agree on how to include DACA protections as part of a continuing resolution, has given new life to the conversation surrounding…

Fact Check: Did Infowars Release the 'Secret FISA Memo'?

January 23, 2018 · Classified, INfowars, TWS Fact Check

Caricature-extraordinaire Alex Jones claimed on Tuesday to have in his possession THE secret FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) memo that congressional Republicans are calling to be declassified so as to demonstrate surveillance abuses.

Fact Check: Did Trump End a VA Program for Homeless Vets?

January 16, 2018 · TWS Fact Check, Donald Trump, Veterans Affairs

An article published on December 6, 2017, claimed that Donald Trump’s administration had cut a Veterans Affairs program for homeless veterans while the number of homeless veterans increased.

Fact Check: Was Trump's Reduction of Two National Monuments in Utah Illegal?

December 5, 2017 · TWS Fact Check, Donald Trump, Today's Blogs

After President Donald Trump’s announced Tuesday that he was reducing the land size of two national monuments, Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear store, replaced its homepage with a statement claiming that Trump had illegally stolen that land.

Fact Check: Did the U.S. Vote 'No' on a U.N. Resolution to Combat Nazism?

November 27, 2017 · Nazis, TWS Fact Check, United Nations

Following reports that the U.S. voted in opposition to a U.N. resolution “combating Nazism and … practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” pundits and activists have cited the decision as demonstrative of the…

Fact Check: Were Any Clinton or Obama Judicial Nominees Deemed 'Not Qualified' by the ABA?

November 13, 2017 · TWS Fact Check, Donald Trump, Barack Obama

Four recent judicial nominees from President Donald Trump have received “not qualified” ratings from the American Bar Association, most notably Brett Talley, a 36-year-old lawyer who has never tried a case. In response a post on MSNBC’s website claimed that neither Barack Obama nor Bill Clinton…

Fact Check: Did the DNC Illegally Steal the 2016 Primary from Bernie Sanders?

November 6, 2017 · TWS Fact Check, DNC, Donald Trump

After a startling revelation from former Democratic National Committee interim chair Donna Brazile that the DNC had engineered the party’s primary election system in favor of then-candidate Hillary Clinton, President Donald Trump suggested that the primary was illegally stolen from Bernie Sanders.

Fact Check: Did Chuck Schumer Champion the Visa Diversity Program?

November 3, 2017 · TWS Fact Check, Charles Schumer, Donald Trump

The morning after a deadly terrorist attack in New York City, President Donald Trump tweeted “The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.”