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White House golden ballroom, American Eagle & Julian Brown

Plus: Breaking down claim 'whites-only' Arkansas settlement plans to expand into Missouri

Author

Izz LaMagdeleine
August 02, 2025

SATURDAY EDITION

Snopes Debunker

A white man wearing a dark suit stands in front of a crowd of people, many of whom are holding their phones like they are taking a photo or recording of him.

Who's paying for the new White House golden ballroom? What we know

In late July and early August, a claim spread online that President Donald Trump would build a $200 million golden ballroom at the White House — paid for by himself and private donors.

The X account Libs of TikTok shared this claim along with an illustration of the alleged room, captioned "BREAKING: Trump is building a 90,000 square foot White House ballroom and it's being funded mainly by Trump himself!" Snopes reporter Laerke Christensen has the details.

A group of people wearing masks over the bottom half of their faces stand in front of a fence. A parking lot appears to be behind them.

ICE offers employees student loan repayment options?

As of 2025, ICE offered student loan repayment options for eligible employees as both a recruitment and retention tactic.

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Support Snopes With Our Monthly Membership

Snopes has been busy fact-checking political claims, including President Donald Trump's administration. But we look into claims on every topic, not just politics. For instance, one of our favorite fact checks that published recently was about whether an interstellar object is "most likely" an alien ship heading toward Earth. We need your help to keep doing this far-ranging work. By building our membership, we will be able to continue cutting straight to the facts on any subject our readers are interested in. We appreciate any support you can give.

A white woman wearing a denim top is pictured next to a statement that says, "To Whom It May Concern, We sincerely apologize for featuring Sydney Sweeney in our recent advertisement. In hindsight, we underestimated the combined impact of her blue eyes, blonde hair and general hotness. Also, we did not realize how big her boobs would be. Our marketing team has been sent to denim sensitivity training. Thank you for your feedback. Please stop emailing us. (We're still trying to recover from the group chat fallout.)"

American Eagle issued apology note about Sydney Sweeney ads?

The Associated Press reported the company's ad campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards and backlash to "woke" U.S. politics.

A Black man smiles while holding a device. Behind, an image appears to show the same man.

What we know about Julian Brown, inventor of 'plastoline' who vanished from social media

Brown, who purportedly found a way to turn plastic waste into fuel, stopped posting after telling social media followers he was in danger.

An image claims to show an object traveling through space. The caption on the image says, "Scientists have discovered a Mysterious intergalactic object, most likely an Alien ship, that is heading towards Earth and could arrive in Novemeber 2025." Red text says "heading towards Earth."

Probing claim that interstellar object is 'most likely' an alien ship heading towards Earth

3I/ATLAS is just the third recorded interstellar object to enter the solar system. However, the scientific consensus is that it's likely a comet.

Staff Pick

A white man is outlined on a gray background. Next to him, the state of Missouri is shown in green. On top of it is a black shape like a diamond with a white outline.

Breaking down claim 'whites-only' Arkansas settlement plans to expand into Missouri

Return to the Land co-founder Eric Orwoll has disputed a report by a local TV news station.