Snopes.com investigated the alt-right’s dubious claim that a viral video shows U.S. President Joe Biden fall asleep during a meeting with victims of the August 2023 Maui wildfires.
Rating:
False
On Aug. 22, 2023, a dubious user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a low-quality, edited video and falsely claimed it showed that U.S. President Joe Biden had fallen asleep while meeting with victims impacted by the August 2023 Maui wildfires. The user who made this post is known for spreading baseless conspiracy theories about the Maui wildfires and has bragged about making money on X based on promoting such false rumors.
The video was recorded inside of the Lahaina Civic Center. One of several stops for the president and the first lady, Jill Biden, during their visit to the island.
The caption of the post read, “Joe Biden just fell asleep in the middle of his meeting with victims of the Maui fires.”
A quick and simple check of C-SPAN’s broadcast of this gathering in Maui (full video on C-Span) revealed that Biden’s eyes were open, not closed, during the portion of the clip that was promoted by dubious users on X. (The moment begins at around the 19:28 mark in the video.)
In other words, no, Biden had not fallen asleep while meeting with the victims, as evidenced by this high-definition clip that was captured from C-SPAN’s broadcast:
