No, Joe Biden Did Not Wander Off during G7 Skydiving Event; Cropped Video Viral

US President Joe Biden has been under attack over questions about his old age, mental state and ability to lead the country. 

Recently, Biden and world leaders gathered for a G7 Summit in Italy. On 13 June, they attended a Skydiving flags ceremony. A short video from this event went viral with a misleading claim that President Biden wandered off from other world leaders during the ceremony and must be rescued by the Italian Prime Minister to take him back for the group photo. 

But this claim is false and misleading. In an unedited video of the event, it becomes clear that President Biden did not wander off but was greeting another group of skydivers.

WHAT’S THE CLAIM?

Many News organizations worldwide along with RNC Research, which is managed by former President Donald Trump’s campaign, shared this short clip with similar claims. 

In the viral clip, Biden is with G7 Group leaders watching skydivers. Biden alone turns and walks a few steps to give a thumbs up seemingly to nobody. Then Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turns him back to the other leaders.

New York Post amplified the cropped clip claiming “President Biden appeared to wander off at the G7 summit in Italy, with officials needing to pull him back to focus.”

Times of India reported that “US President Joe Biden apparently wandered off during G7 when world leaders are in the midst of a photo moment.”

India Today said, “The clip shows the 81-year-old President seemingly losing focus and drifting away from the group of world leaders during a skydiving demonstration on Thursday.”

FACT-CHECK

We accessed the original video of the event officially broadcasted by the G7 social media accounts. 

In this feed, we can clearly see that Biden was greeting with a group of skydivers. This group of skydivers were selectively edited out in the viral short clip.

We also found an alternate angle video of the event on MSNBC. In this video, it is apparent that Biden turns away to give a thumbs-up to several skydivers before Meloni comes over to get his attention for the group photo.

Other world leaders there defended President Biden over this false allegation of him meandering off. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rubbished the viral claims saying, “They (skydivers) had all landed and Biden was being very polite. And he just went over to kind of talk to all of them individually.”

“As far as I know, he went over to talk to some of the parachute jumpers and say thank you or hello to them individually,” he said.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates tweeted that Biden was giving a thumbs up to skydivers.

CONCLUSION

Hence, the clip allegedly showing President Biden wandering off from world leaders at a G7 event in Italy is cropped and incomplete. In reality, Biden was speaking and greeting with another group of skydivers. The viral clip has been created by cropping out this group of skydivers with misleading claims.