White House calls Joe Biden’s freezing and appearing confused videos ‘cheap fakes’
The White House on Monday condemned a series of altered videos that falsely depicted President Joe Biden appearing lost or confused at G7, labeling the footage as “bad faith” actions by his critics.
Joe Biden’s doctored videos criticized for spreading misinformation and exploiting concerns about his age and cognitive ability(X)
These videos, stemming from Biden’s recent travels to France, Italy, and a fundraiser in Los Angeles, have been criticized as misleading attempts to undermine the President.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the issue, pointing to a Washington Post article that referred to the videos as “cheap fake” and spreading “misinformation” and noted their dissemination by “right-wing critics of the president.”
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She remarked, “It tells you everything that we need to know about how desperate Republicans are here.”
“Instead of talking about the president’s performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he’s been able to do for the American people across the country, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos. And it is, again, done in bad faith.”
“And some of your news organization [sic] have been very clear, have stressed that these right-wing — the right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem because of, the fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them pushing misinformation, disinformation,” she added.
Concerns about Biden’s age and cognitive ability have been persistent among voters as he seeks reelection at age 81. These doctored videos serve to exploit and amplify those concerns.
One clip shared by the New York Post depicted Biden with other Group of Seven (G7) leaders in Italy, supposedly wandering aimlessly during a skydiving demonstration. The full event footage showed Biden moving away to point out one of the skydivers, but the New York Post’s cropped version obscured this context, making it appear as though Biden was confused until the Italian prime minister redirected him.
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Jean-Pierre slammed the NYP for spreading “misinformation”
Another clip from the New York Post focused on Biden standing on stage at a fundraiser with former President Barack Obama and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The headline, “Biden appears to freeze up, has to be led off stage by Obama at mega-bucks LA fundraiser,” suggested a troubling scene. However, the actual footage showed both Obama and Biden waving goodbye to the crowd before Obama gently guided Biden off the stage.
Both White House and Obama aides have rebutted the New York Post’s portrayal.
Eric Schultz, Obama’s senior adviser, reposted the New York Post article on X, stating, “This did not happen.”
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White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates also criticized the Post, asserting that they were “pretending the President taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds is somehow wrong. Their ethical standards could deal with a little unfreezing.”
