WH Press Sec Labels Biden Videos ‘Cheap Fakes’ Made in ‘Bad Faith’

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre labeled recent viral videos, purportedly showing President Joe Biden's declining mental and physical health, as “cheap fake” videos distributed in “bad faith.”

Key Quotes: Responding to a question about the videos, Jean-Pierre said, “They are cheap fakes video, they are done in bad faith... the right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem because of the fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them pushing misinformation, disinformation.” She added that The Washington Post (Lean Left bias) had backed up claims of misinformation and that the “conservative Washington Examiner” (Lean Right bias) was “calling out” the New York Post (Lean Right bias) over the issue. Furthermore, she said this showed “how desperate Republicans are here.”

For Context: While both Biden and former President Donald Trump are pushing the envelope for presidential candidate ages, conservative media and the Trump campaign have increasingly used videos to frame Biden as mentally unfit. 

How the Media Covered It: Coverage differed based on partisan narratives surrounding Biden. Several headlines from the right framed Jean-Pierre as dismissing all “awkward” videos of Biden as fake. The New York Post denied Jean-Pierre’s claim about its coverage, accusing her of falsely attributing criticism of the Post to the Washington Examiner, which it said was merely quoting British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Some coverage on the left agreed with Jean-Pierre's characterization of the videos as misleadingly cropped or edited. This summary was developed with the help of AllSides' AI technology.