Video doesn’t show President Joe Biden dozing during event with Maui, Hawaii, wildfire survivors

President Joe Biden’s critics often inspect his public appearances for signs that he is unfit to lead. A common false claim is that he falls asleep during important events. The latest iteration is no different. 

Posting a clip on X, formerly Twitter, from an event with survivors of the recent Maui, Hawaii, wildfires, Fox News host Sean Hannity wrote Aug. 22, "Biden appears to fall asleep during a ceremony in Hawaii honoring the hundreds of Americans killed by the fires."

Another X user posted the same video and wrote, "Joe Biden appears to be sleeping while listening to survivors speak about their homes burning to the ground."

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stated on October 22, 2024 in posts on X

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At first glance, it seems Biden might have dozed off. But a closer look at the full video showed that this wasn’t so. 

At the 5:13 mark of a video of the event uploaded by KITV, a Honolulu ABC News affiliate, Biden bowed his head. Zooming into the video shows that he was still blinking. After about 10 seconds, Biden nods as the speaker says, "We are a community that relies on family, on ohana, whether by blood or by friendship." (Ohana is a Hawaiian word for family.)

We rate the claim that Biden fell asleep during an event with the Maui wildfire survivors False.