A different angle, captured by NBC News, shows that President Joe Biden was walking to give a thumbs up to parachuters who had just landed in a demonstration.

June 14, 2024, 11:29 AM PDT
By David Ingram

Conservative media outlets selectively used a camera angle that left out important context to spread a claim Thursday and Friday that President Joe Biden wandered off from a meeting of world leaders, but the full video at another angle captured by NBC News tells a different story.

Instead of wandering off, Biden was walking toward a group of parachutists who had just landed in an Italian clearing and gave them two thumbs up.

The deceptive video began spreading online shortly after a photo opportunity at the G7 summit in Puglia, in southern Italy. Biden and other leaders from some of the world’s largest economies stood on a green lawn while people in military uniforms parachuted in carrying oversized flags of the different countries.

Several cameras, including one from NBC News, were present to document the meeting, where Biden was expected to push for more support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

But the cameras captured slightly different angles, and Biden’s critics seized on one of them to push their allegation that Biden, 81, is absent-minded and too old to be president.

The video is one of many that have circulated widely online in recent weeks attempting to cast relatively normal moments as gaffes or evidence that Biden is suffering from a mental decline. Experts have warned that while advanced technology like generative artificial intelligence can spread misinformation, so-called cheapfakes that often use only minor or selective editing can be more effective at spreading false narratives.

The NBC News video contains nothing to suggest that Biden wandered, a word that often implies aimless walking. Instead, it shows he was walking toward a specific destination: a group of at least three kneeling parachutists.

Many of the deceptive videos went viral on X, which under owner Elon Musk has transformed into an increasingly influential media outlet in conservative circles — one that’s hostile to the Biden administration and where false stories spread with few checks by the platform.

The New York Post, controlled by the conservative Murdoch family, posted a video Thursday that appeared to be taken with a phone in the vertical position, meaning that it showed little of what was happening on either side of Biden. The video shows Biden walking about seven steps away from the other leaders, seemingly with no destination, and giving at least one thump up to whatever was off-camera. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni follows him, touches his arm and directs Biden’s attention in the opposite direction.

The New York Post, in text superimposed on the video, said that Biden “appears to wander off” and “has to be pulled back.” Its post on X got 4.2 million videos, according to X’s tally Friday.

Andrew Bates, the White House senior deputy press secretary, criticized the Post’s reporting.

“The Murdoch outlets are so desperate to distract from @POTUS’s record that they just lie,” he wrote on X.

“Here, they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from viewers that he just saw a skydiving demonstration,” he wrote. “He’s saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up.” His post received 2.4 million views.

A spokesperson for the Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

But the claims continued from conservative and Republican accounts, which used the same video or other camera angles with limited context. A post from a Republican National Committee used a video that, although it had a wider angle, still did not show what Biden was walking toward. It received 2.9 million views on X.

“WHAT IS BIDEN DOING?” the RNC post asked. The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

A post on X from Clay Travis, a conservative talk radio host, used the same video as the RNC. He wrote that Biden “just goes wandering off” and that other national leaders “are babysitting our president in Italy.” His post received 1.1 million views. In a follow-up post Friday, Travis said he stood by his view that Biden is not mentally fit to be president.

The RNC's and Travis' posts did not have community notes on them Friday, though X users had proposed some and were in the process of voting.

The NBC News video angle clearly includes what the others did not: the group of kneeling parachutists who were only steps away from Biden. As they’re kneeling, Biden walks toward them, stops and gives them two thumbs up. At least one of them appears to acknowledge Biden by standing at attention.

Meloni does pull Biden back to the group as someone appears to begin speaking, but there’s no indication in the NBC News video that Biden was unaware of his surroundings.

Deceptive videos of Biden have become a common tactic during the 2024 presidential campaign, which features Biden and 78-year-old former President Donald Trump. Last year, conservative pundits used low-quality video to spread a false claim that Biden fell asleep during a memorial for wildfire victims in Hawaii.