A recent star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles has sparked a debate about whether or not US President Joe Biden froze on stage and had to be snapped back to reality by former President Barack Obama, whom Biden was vice president to.
The claim was first published by the New York Post on Sunday, who said the president had to be led off stage by Obama in an awkward moment. The sitting president, the former president, as well as the celebrity late-night host Jimmy Kimmel stood for applause following a 45-minute interview at the Peacock Theater.
But while the men stood for applause, “Biden’s gaze seemed to become fixed on the crowd for a full 10 seconds until [Obama] took his wrist and led him offstage,” the New York Post claimed.
The Biden campaign reportedly raised more than $30 million at the event where Hollywood stars including George Clooney, Julia Robert and Barbara Streisand headlined. Tickets to the event ranged from $250 to $500,000.
The Biden campaign is trying to fight back against the financial upswing of former President Donald Trump’s campaign which raised more than $50 million during an April fundraiser in Florida. Polling has also shown Biden falling behind Trump in key states including Arizona, Nevada and Florida.
However, hundreds of anti-Israel protesters swarmed the event and attempted to block entry to the fundraiser. According to the Post, protesters shouted such chants including, “Biden, Biden you’re a liar, we demand a ceasefire.” Police were called in to keep the protesters away from the theater, but no arrests were made, the Post said, citing the Los Angeles Police Department.
The White House hit back against the claims that Biden had froze, and accused right-wing critics of selectively editing videos in a “misinformation” campaign against the president. The White House shared footage of what they say was the president pausing to take in the applause.
"It tells you everything that we need to know about how desperate Republicans are here," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Monday's daily press briefing. She added that “the manipulated videos [are] done in bad faith".
Last week, the Post also shared a clip of the US leader apparently freezing during a skydiving demonstration in Italy on Thursday where he was meeting with other G7 leaders. Biden seemed to walk away from the group of leaders to speak to a parachuter when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had to reel him back in for the photo op.
Both Biden and Trump have been criticized for their age and mental health. Trump is just three years younger than Biden who is 81-years-old. Biden has often stumbled over his words, fallen on a stairway and said hello during a White House event to a former congresswoman who had recently died.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly forgotten who the current president is, and identified his former ambassador to the UN as the former speaker, has often mispronounced simple words and repeatedly rambled and followed tangents during his speeches, US News reported. The American psychologist Dr. John Gartner claimed that Trump - America’s apparent presidential frontrunner - first showed intermittent examples of mental collapse in 2017 and that “now, he is getting worse.”
“He can’t get through a whole rally without revealing himself. And, because this is a progressive illness, he will continue to get worse. And if he is like most patients like this, at some point, he is literally going to fall off the cognitive cliff and he will be completely incapacitated,” Gartner told The Hill.