The White House has stated that deceptively edited videos exacerbating the age controversy surrounding President Joe Biden are spreading online ahead of the presidential election.
According to NBC News on June 18, the Republican National Committee (RNC), major conservative media outlets, and right-wing influencers are actively spreading videos that make it appear as though Biden is wandering alone or looking blankly.
However, the Biden camp has stated that the majority of these videos have been intentionally edited or shot from specific angles.
A video of Biden standing blankly on stage at a fundraising event in Los Angeles on June 15 was previously reported. In the video, former President Barack Obama had to pull Biden by the wrist to exit the stage. However, Andrew Bates, White House Deputy Press Secretary, clarified that Biden was merely watching the applauding audience.
The Republicans also circulated a video of Biden wandering alone during a Group of Seven (G7) summit event in Italy on June 13, until Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni guided him back.
However, unedited video and photos taken from a wider angle show that Biden had walked over to greet a soldier attending the event.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was present at the time, explained, ” Biden was very courteous and went over to speak to each of them.”
The Republicans also posted a video from the 80th-anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landings in France on June 6, in which Biden appears to hesitate as if he was trying to sit on an invisible chair.
However, according to an AP verification, there was a chair at Biden’s spot, and it was only invisible from certain angles despite it being visible in the full video.
NBC assessed that while video editing and distortion are not new phenomena, since former President Donald Trump took control of the Republican Party, the boundary between exaggeration and lies has become more blurred within the party.
