A looped video circulating on X purports to depict Joe Biden touching a woman's chest and leaning in for a kiss. But the clip is deceptively edited; the full footage shows the US president placed an "I voted" sticker on his granddaughter's blouse after they cast their ballots in the 2022 midterm elections.
"The dude is sick, as in pervert," says a September 26, 2023 post sharing the video on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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The same short, looped clip has circulated for months, building on a long history of claims that Biden acts inappropriately with women and children.
But the clip is deceptively edited -- longer cuts of the moment, which AFP found using reverse image searches, show Biden was placing an "I voted" sticker on his granddaughter after she put one on him.
The footage, taken in October 2022, shows the president after he voted early in the midterm elections with Natalie Biden, who was 18 years old at the time and casting her first ballot.
After the two voted in the state of Delaware, Natalie Biden received a sticker from a poll worker and stuck it on her grandfather's lapel, according to videos from C-SPAN and other news media (archived here and here).
The president, holding another "I voted" sticker, asked his granddaughter: "Which side do you want it on?"
Gesturing to the left side of her chest, Natalie Biden replied: "This side. Right here."
The president then placed the sticker and kissed her on the cheek. AFP photos, the C-SPAN footage and a video Joe Biden posted on YouTube (archived here) show the sticker near her neckline.
© AFP
© AFP
The sticker is not visible in the short, looped clip circulating online, which bears the watermark of a now-suspended X account that previously promoted another doctored photo of Biden touching a child below the waist.
Biden faced scrutiny during the 2020 presidential campaign for his affectionate physical style, including public statements from women who said he made them uncomfortable at past events. The criticism included one accusation of sexual assault, which Biden denied.
AFP previously debunked posts misrepresenting another video of Biden with his granddaughter here.
