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President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, in Dover, Del., July 23, 2024. (AP) President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, in Dover, Del., July 23, 2024. (AP)

President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, in Dover, Del., July 23, 2024. (AP)

Maria Briceño
By Maria Briceño July 23, 2024
Sara Swann
By Sara Swann July 23, 2024

If Your Time is short

  • After President Joe Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his presidential pick, claims emerged online suggesting he is missing, terminally ill, dying or already dead.

  • PolitiFact found no evidence that Biden’s health is in danger or that he is missing. The White House’s doctor said that his COVID-19 symptoms are resolved. 

  • Biden arrived at the White House from Delaware on July 23 and he told reporters he is feeling “well.” He is expected to address the nation July 24.

After President Joe Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic ticket, claims emerged online suggesting that Biden, 81, is missing, terminally ill, dying or already dead.

Multiple conservative social media users pushed these claims July 22, the day after Biden’s announcement:

  • "Where’s Biden? This is the last time he was seen in public," claimed a July 22 X post from the Republican National Committee-run RNC Research account.

  • "Joe Biden is currently in hospice care and is unlikely to survive the night," read a July 22 Instagram post. It showed a screengrab of an X post from an account called Global Press.

  • "Joe Biden is dying and final preparations are being made for him. He was supposed to leave Delaware today, but his health has deteriorated," a July 22 X post from conservative activist and commentator Laura Loomer claimed.

  • "Rumors are circulating that Joe Biden is dead," a July 22 X post from a conservative blue check user named Matt Wallace claimed.

Similar claims about Biden’s health also circulated in Spanish.

These claims are unfounded. Biden has been out of the public eye for several days because he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 17 and has been recovering at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Biden returned to the White House on July 23.

Why are these claims baseless? 

Some social media posts speculated that he had something more serious than COVID-19, but a recent report from the White House doctor showed that "the president’s symptoms have resolved." The report also said that during his infection, his vital signs and lungs remained normal. 

Biden spoke by telephone July 22 to his campaign staff for the first time after endorsing Harris. Although some on social media speculated that Biden’s voice on the call was generated with artificial intelligence, we found no credible information to support that. The White House did not respond to our inquiries but it posted the transcript of the call on its website and said it was "via teleconference."

Biden responded to multiple questions by Harris during the call.

He made his first appearance July 23, and journalists captured video of him boarding the Air Force One. He told reporters he’s feeling "well."

The president is scheduled to address the nation at 8 p.m. July 24. The next day, Biden is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in addition to other public appearances that day and later in the week.

Is Biden giving away his presidential authority?

Former President Donald Trump said on Truth Social: "Does Lyin’ Kamala Harris think Joe Biden is fit to run the U.S.A. for the next six months? She must answer the question. Now it appears Joe is delegating his Presidential Authority to unelected Washington Bureaucrats!"

Other social media users, such as Loomer, made statements similar to Trump’s:

"Biden is dying and has started quietly delegating his authority as president to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of State," said a July 22 X post

The post shows a memorandum on "The Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity for Ukrainians Act." It also shows another one in the post’s thread about the Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024.

But we found that these memos Biden signed aren’t unusual and aren’t evidence that he is transferring his presidential power.

Trump signed similar memos back in 2019 and 2020, as did other presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Legal experts told us that the memos shared in the posts are entirely unremarkable.

Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University, told PolitiFact that presidents issue these memorandums so they can authorize others to make laws come to pass. 

He said that the delegation of power signed by Biden in those memorandums follows the terms of 3 U.S.C. § 301, which states:

The President of the United States is authorized to designate and empower the head of any department or agency in the executive branch, or any official thereof who is required to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform without approval, ratification, or other action by the President (1) any function which is vested in the President by law, or (2) any function which such officer is required or authorized by law to perform only with or subject to the approval, ratification, or other action of the President.

"There are so many federal laws giving so many responsibilities to presidents that there is no way for them to do everything themselves. Section 301 recognized this and made the delegation of presidential power more regular and formulaic," Kalt said.

Joel Goldstein, an emeritus law professor at St. Louis University School of Law, told us that if Biden were to transfer his presidential powers and duties to the vice president, he would do so under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment. 

"The president must transmit a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate stating that he or she is ‘unable to  discharge the powers and duties of his office’ and is accordingly transferring presidential power and duties to the vice president under Section 3 of the Amendment," Goldstein said in an email.

Such powers transfers have occurred only four times in U.S. history, during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush (twice) and Biden, when he underwent a medical procedure under anesthesia.

"President Biden has not done so in this case nor is there reason to believe that he is unable to discharge presidential powers and duties," Goldstein said.

Where baseless claims about Biden’s health originated

Many of the claims about Biden dying or having serious health issues originated on X from conservative users who are known to spread false or misleading information. These users cited no sources to support their claims.

RNC Research shared posts saying Biden was missing. The two posts collectively received hundreds of thousands of views.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said on X that Biden was "hiding" and demanded "proof of life" from him by 5 p.m. July 22. This post was viewed 5.8 million times. (Biden appeared publicly the next day, returning to the White House.)

Loomer posted multiple times on X about Biden "dying" or being "terminally ill." Collectively, these posts were viewed more than 33.8 million times.

Samuel Woolley, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism and Media who specializes in propaganda research, said the claims about Biden’s health are likely spreading so quickly and widely online because he dropped out of the presidential race amid widespread discussion of his age and fitness.

These claims are "deeply tied" to previous messaging about Biden’s health, Woolley said.

"The rumors about Biden’s health echo past false claims about Hillary Clinton’s ‘fainting’ episode in 2016 and Donald Trump’s physical fitness in 2018," Woolley said.

On July 23, false claims that former President Jimmy Carter had died circulated on social media.

 

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Our Sources

Email interview with Samuel Woolley, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media and program director of the propaganda research team at the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, July 23, 2024

Email interview with Brian Kalt, professor of law at Michigan State University and author of "Unable: The Law, Politics, and Limits of Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment," July 23, 2024

Email interview with Joel Goldstein, professor of law emeritus at St. Louis University School of Law, July 23, 2024

The White House, Physician to the President, July 23, 2024

Post on Truth Social, July 23, 2024

CNN, See Biden's first appearance after withdrawing from race, JULY 23, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 23, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 23, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on X, July 22, 2024

Post on Instagram, July 22, 2024

U.S. House gov, 3 USC 301: General authorization to delegate functions; publication of delegations, accessed July 23, 2024

George Bush White House, Memorandum for the Secretary of State,  Oct. 21, 2004

The White House, Memorandum on Delegation of Functions and Authorities Under Sections 1333, 1342, 1352, and 1353 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, July 9, 2024

The White House, Memorandum on the Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act, July 22, 2024

PolitiFact, Former President Jimmy Carter is still alive despite viral, fake death announcement, July 23, 2024

Govinfo.gov, Memorandum on Delegation of Authority to the Secretary of State Under the

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Jan. 17, 2017

Donald Trump’s White House, Memorandum on Delegation of Functions and Authorities under the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act, May 24, 2019

NBC News, Listen: Biden speaks over phone to campaign staff, July 22, 2024

Govinfo.gov, Memorandum on Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, 31 de marzo de 2020

White House Pool report, Updated: Week ahead guidance for the week of July 22, 2024, July 23, 2024

The White House, Remarks by President Biden and Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Wilmington, DE, July 22, 2024

CNBC, Biden briefly transfers power to Vice President Harris while he undergoes routine colonoscopy, Nov. 19, 2021

CNN, The 25th Amendment: How it applies when a US president is under anesthesia, Sept. 1, 2020

AP, False story claims Trump forged physical checkup results, Feb. 20, 2018

PolitiFact, What we know about the health of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Aug. 16. 2016

 

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