No 'Sleepy Joe': Biden read from notecards at NATO summit | Fact check
The claim: Joe Biden fell asleep mid-summit at NATO
A July 12 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows President Joe Biden speaking during a meeting with other world leaders.
“Foreign leaders left stunned after Joe Biden falls ASLEEP mid-summit, cancels meetings,” reads text on the screen.
The video was posted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who shared it on his Twitter and Facebook pages. It was shared over 1,500 times on Facebook in two days and retweeted nearly 7,000 times on Twitter. Donald Trump, Jr. also reshared it to his Facebook page.
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Our rating: False
The video does not show Biden falling asleep at the NATO conference, and the only meeting Biden was reported to have missed was the NATO leadership dinner.
Biden was reading from a notecard, not napping
During a four-day NATO summit in Lithuania, Biden met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on July 11. Erdogan dropped his year-long opposition to Sweden’s bid to join NATO, a sudden change of heart after Turkey’s long-standing claim that Sweden supported Kurdish militants that Turkey considered a threat to national security.
When Biden met with Erdogan, both men held what appeared to be notecards. When Biden began speaking, he set the notecards in his lap and sometimes looked down to reference them.
“We’re at this historic summit meeting. We’re resolving a lot of things, I hope. And you made, you made (it) all the more historic by the agreement you reached yesterday in the admission of Sweden and how you’re going to proceed. I want to thank you for your diplomacy and your courage to take that on. And I want to thank you for your leadership, Mr. President,” Biden said. “This summit is reaffirming our commitment to NATO defense with close allies in NATO, and I hope we can make it even stronger.”
Erdogan responded by thanking Biden for congratulating him on his re-election to a third term as president. Their full remarks were recorded by the White House.
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Biden missed NATO leadership dinner to prepare for busy schedule
A White House spokesperson who declined to be identified by name confirmed Biden missed the NATO leadership dinner, but explained it was because he was preparing for a busy schedule.
“It was a social dinner amid four days of official business and the president had domestic business to attend to, including calling the governor of Vermont to discuss extreme flooding,” the spokesperson said, referencing the catastrophic rain and flooding affecting the state. “He also had prep for the second day of the summit and a major speech the following night.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the dinner in Biden’s place.
USA TODAY reached out to Johnson and Trump for comment on the claim, but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
White House spokesperson, July 14, Email exchange with USA TODAY
NPR, July 11, 2023, In a sudden reversal, Turkey agrees to back Sweden's bid to join NATO
CSPAN, July 11, 2023, President Biden Meeting with Turkish President Erdogan in Vilnius
The White House, July 11, Remarks by President Biden and President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of the Republic of Turkey Before Bilateral Meeting | Vilnius, Lithuania
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Biden fell asleep during NATO meeting | Fact check
