Misleading posts target Biden after Russia prisoner swap

"Joe Biden climbed back up the stairs of an airplane he wasn't supposed to be on, as Kamala Harris and the Secret Service watched in disbelief. Clearly has no idea where he is or what he's doing," says an August 2, 2024 X post.

The post includes a video of Biden stepping onto the plane after the freed Americans disembarked.

"Confusion reigns as Biden boards empty plane," text over the clip says.

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Screenshot of an X post taken August 5, 2024

Similar posts spread across X and other platforms -- including in Thai. Conservative activists such as Jack Posobiec, who has previously spread misinformation, amplified the narrative.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan, and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were released by Russia and landed in the United States late August 1 as part of an extraordinary exchange between Washington and Moscow. They were among two dozen detainees released, marking one of the largest swaps involving Russia and the West.

The plane carrying the three Americans stopped at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted them.

Speculation about Biden's cognitive fitness for the presidency has long dogged the 81-year-old. In late July, he announced he would not seek reelection and endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination in this fall's presidential contest.

However, posts sharing the clip of Biden at Joint Base Andrews are misleading -- the latest misinformation to portray the Democrat as lost and confused.

AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski, who was present for the detainees' arrival, said the plane was not empty and that Biden spoke with the crew.

"US President Joe Biden steps onto the plane to talk to the pilot who flew the former prisoners held by Russia to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on August 1, 2024," says the caption on a photo of the president entering the aircraft (archived here).

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US President Joe Biden steps onto the plane to talk to the pilot who flew the former prisoners held by Russia to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on August 1, 2024 (AFP / Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates addressed the misleading claim on X, saying Biden "was personally thanking the flight crew who brought these brave individuals home to their families" (archived here).

AFP has fact-checked other claims about US politics here.