Conservative pundits falsely claim Biden slept during Maui fire memorial

Conservative pundits used low-quality video on social media platforms Tuesday to spread a false claim that President Joe Biden fell asleep during a memorial for Maui wildfire victims. 

Fox News host Sean Hannity was among those who shared low-resolution video on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter. Hannity’s post was viewed more than 425,000 times within a few hours, and similar videos posted by others received thousands more views on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. 

Higher-resolution video from the nonpartisan network C-SPAN shows that Biden looked downward for about 10 seconds while he was seated at a table. In the video, Biden watches someone who’s speaking, coughs, looks downward and then nods in agreement with the speaker. Then he looks up again. He later delivered a speech to the same audience. 

The higher-resolution video shows that Biden kept his eyes open for most of the time he was looking downward. His open eyes aren’t clearly visible in the lower-quality videos.