A video shows people holding up their phones to film President Joe Biden, but “every phone there is turned off.”
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President Joe Biden greets the crowd on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 4, 2023, during a barbecue with active-duty military families to celebrate the Fourth of July. (AP)
People weren’t holding up turned-off phones at Biden’s July 4 event
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People weren’t holding up turned-off cellphones at a White House event July 4. The late afternoon sun’s brightness made the phone screens appear dim.
Conservative commentators and social media posts are claiming part of President Joe Biden’s July 4 celebration at the White House was a setup because phones in the crowd were "turned off."
In a July 6 segment, Rick Wiles and Raymond "Doc" Burkhart, founder and commentator, respectively, of the conservative news website TruNews, discussed the event and showed a clip of Biden greeting the crowd outside the White House.
"There were a lot of people there taking pictures and videos. Just one small problem, I don’t think any of the cameras were on, Rick," Burkhart said about 53 minutes into the segment.
"As you can see, there’s not one phone with an active screen. Not one," Wiles replied. "Every phone there is turned off."
"I think it’s a staged event," Burkhart said. "They brought a bunch of people over and said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna get to meet the president, but … your phones have to be off.’"
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Multiple Facebook posts shared a video of this exchange between Wiles and Burkhart. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
At the July 4 celebration, right before the clip shown on TrueNews begins, Biden addressed a crowd of military families on the White House’s South Lawn.
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In live news coverage of the event, which began around 5 p.m., it’s clear that the phones in the audience are on with their camera apps open. People in the crowd also can be seen tapping their phone screens to take photos and videos.
Some of the phone screens in the crowd look dark, but that’s because the late afternoon sun was shining on the audience, making the light from their phones appear dim in comparison.
We rate this claim False.
Our Sources
Facebook video (archived version), July 9, 2023
Facebook video (archived version), July 9, 2023
TruNews, "White House Cocaine Drama Takes New Turn," July 6, 2023
YouTube, "Live: Joe Biden celebrates 4th July at the White House," July 4, 2023
YouTube, "WATCH: Biden hosts military families for Fourth of July," July 4, 2023
The White House, tweet, July 4, 2023
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People weren’t holding up turned-off phones at Biden’s July 4 event
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