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No, Biden did not doze off during event for Maui wildfire victims | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank   Paste BN

The claim: Biden fell asleep at an event for Maui fire survivors

An Aug. 23 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims President Joe Biden had an embarrassing moment while visiting with victims of the Maui wildfires.

“‘Sleepy Joe’ lives up to his name,” reads the post, which links to a video in the comment section. “Falls ASLEEP at event for Maui survivors!” 

It was shared more than 600 times in one day. Another version of the claim was shared more than 50,000 times on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Our rating: False

Biden did not fall asleep while attending an event for survivors of the wildfires. A low-quality clip shared on social media makes it appear as though Biden is asleep at one point during an Aug. 21 event in Maui. Higher-quality footage of the event shows Biden’s head is bowed but his eyes are open and blinking.

High-definition video shows Biden's eyes open, blinking during speech

Biden arrived in Hawaii on Aug. 21 to meet with survivors of the deadly wildfires that left at least 115 dead. While there, he attended a community event in Lahaina, an area that was devastated by the fires, where he spoke and listened to members of the community.

The video shared in the comments of the Facebook post appears to show the president nodding off to sleep while listening to one of the speakers at the community event.

But higher quality footage of the event shared by C-SPAN shows Biden simply lowered his gaze in the clip. His eyes remain open and he blinks at one point.

At one point the speaker says, “We are a community that relies on family, on Ohana,” referring to the Hawaiian word for "family." The footage shows Biden seemingly nodding his head in response to this.

Footage from KITV in Honolulu also shows Biden’s eyes were open throughout the speech.

Fact check: No evidence Maui wildfires intentionally set in 'land grab,' contrary to posts

Biden went on to give a speech at the event saying in part that “we’re not going to stop” until the Lahaina community is rebuilt on its own terms.

"Jill and I are here to grieve with you but also want you to know, the entire country is here for you,” he said. 

Biden has faced criticism for his response to the Maui fire, for saying “no comment” when asked about its rising death toll while on vacation in Delaware and for first visiting Hawaii nearly two weeks after the fire started, as reported by Paste BN. 

The White House said the timing of the presidential visit was necessary to avoid interfering with search and rescue efforts on the ground. 

Paste BN has previously debunked claims that Biden fell asleep during a NATO summit, the G-7 summit and a meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. 

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told AFP Fact Check the circulating videos supposedly showing Biden asleep at the event were “manipulated.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Paste BN.

PolitiFact and Reuters also debunked the claim. 

Paste BN reached out to several users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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