Is it true that Biden's wristwatch showed a different time during his live address?

In July 2024, reports circulated in the media and on social networks that during a live speech by the US President, his watch showed an earlier time. On this basis, bloggers and journalists concluded that the appeal was recorded. We decided to check the authenticity of this news.

July 21, 2024 Joe Biden announced about the decision to withdraw from the presidential race. This happened after numerous calls from politicians, public figures and journalists who sympathize with the US Democratic Party and are concerned about the health of the 81-year-old head of state (they were especially pronounced in June at the pre-election debates, during which Biden made slips of the tongue and was confused). July 24 at 20:00 North American Eastern Time (that is, at 03:00 Moscow time on July 25) politician spoke with a video message to the nation, in which he confirmed his decision not to participate in the 2024 elections and called for voting for US Vice President Kamala Harris. The next day, a photograph began to circulate online showing Biden’s wristwatch showing a completely different time—a little over six o’clock.

“Grandfather is most likely already dead, all the videos with him are fiction, the American goyim are snatching them up,” commented photo in the Telegram channel “Pozdnyakov 3.0” (311,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). The authors of the channel are a little less categorical “The goat screamed"(181,000 views): "So, it was at that moment that the assistants managed to record the most successful take (who the hell knows which one). And then they just put it on air as a recording.” Similar posts were published by “Putin on Telegram"(187,000 views), "Voblya•news"(134,000), "Ukraine.ru"(115,000), "Rhymes and news"(97,000), "Mislivets Egor"(84,000), "Pool N3"(83,000), "Skabeeva" (79,000) and "Tsargrad-TV"(52,000). The TV channel also wrote about this 360 And "Gazeta.ru"

In a photo collage circulating online, Biden's wristwatch is circled and enlarged. Judging by the image, the clock shows approximately 06:08, which really does not correspond to the time of the live broadcast.

“Verified” studied the recordings of the video message. One of them was published on the official YouTube channel White House. Some shooting plans allow you to see the time on the American leader's watch. For example, at 01:49 the minute hand is where it should be, at 2 minutes. But the hour hand is difficult to see.

The clock is best seen towards the end of Biden's address, at 09:27 mark. The hour hand is at 8, the minute hand is approaching 10 minutes.

The camera recording Biden stood in front of him, and the watch worn on his left hand is not always clearly visible. However, the American media filmed the appeal from other angles. In the photograph taken NBC, the clock is the easiest to distinguish - and it is approximately 20:07, as it should be.

The photograph was taken from approximately the same angle. The New York Times. The hour hand is not fully visible, but it is obvious that it is pointing at 8 o'clock, not 6.

Finally, the most obvious comparison can be made by broadcasting a TV channel C-SPAN, which shows all the significant official events in the political life of the United States and especially the White House. In the upper right corner of the broadcast is the time, which can be compared to what the president's wristwatch shows. For example, at 8:08 p.m., Biden's clock hands show the same time as the credits.

The photo collage that started the spread of the story about Biden's watch having the wrong time published On July 25, blogger and crypto investor Matt Wallace appeared on social network X. The post was shared by more than 14,000 people before it was deleted. Wallace, who describes himself as an adviser to billionaire and X owner Elon Musk, regularly shares on social networks with conspiracy theories, including affect Biden.

Thus, in the official White House broadcast and in photographs taken by reporters from major media outlets, it is clearly visible that the time on Biden’s wristwatch corresponds to the time at which his address was shown in the United States. The screenshot, which shows a different time, was most likely edited.

Cover photo: White House / Screenshot "Verified"

Fake

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