The Trump campaign is demanding an apology from the White House and the Biden campaign for dismissing videos of President Biden’s public gaffes and missteps as “cheap fakes” and “misinformation” spread by conservatives.
After repeated reports of Biden appearing to stand still in public, being escorted offstage by family and associates, and appearing confused in public, the White House denounced the videos promoted by the Trump campaign and its allies as “cheap fakes,” defined by the White House as real footage that has been cut or edited in a way that is allegedly deceptive.
The Trump campaign fired back on Friday following Biden’s debate performance, saying “we all know Biden’s decline is not fake.”
“It’s only been a week since our amazing teams @TrumpWarRoom and @RNCResearch were falsely accused of editing a ‘cheap fake’ to make Biden look bad,” Caroline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, posted on X Friday. “The Democrats, and of course their Fake News mouthpieces, spread this ridiculous lie.”
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“We actually had to spend time fighting the ‘journalist’ about this ridiculous report and letting the American people know they can believe what they see with their own eyes!,” she continued. “Now everyone knows there is nothing fake about Biden’s decline. We were right and we just shared the truth!”
“We now accept the apology,” Leavitt added, referring to the Biden campaign and a few media outlets.
Asked about the Trump campaign’s demand for an apology, the Biden campaign told Fox News Digital that Trump is not only a “pathetic loser” but also a “liar.”
“Trump lied multiple times during the debates, his campaign lies, too, in the real world and online. Trump lied on Thursday about whether he called fallen soldiers idiots and losers, and he is still outraged that mainstream media fact checkers called him out for his cheap fakery. So of course we are amending our earlier statement: Trump is not just a liar, he’s also a pathetic loser,” a Biden campaign spokesperson said.
The calls for an apology came after former presidents Trump and Biden faced off in the first debate of the 2024 election cycle on Thursday night. Biden was subsequently slammed by conservatives and traditional allies for his dismal performance, which The New York Times said even led to calls for him to drop out of the presidential race, highlighting already growing concerns about the president’s age and mental health.
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While performance in the debates could determine the success or failure of the election campaign, this year’s debates may be President Biden’s last chance to save his re-election chances. (Left: Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Right: (Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
Biden’s performance in the debate included moments of rasping voice, occasional stuttering and stumbling over his responses. Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged this week that Biden “got off to a slow start” in the debate, but defended his overall performance and his record in office in 2021 and beyond.
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Levitt told Fox News Digital that in addition to apologizing to the Biden team, the administration and campaign should apologize to the American people “more importantly.”
“The Biden administration and the entire Democratic Party are directly involved in the largest cover-up in the history of American politics, and the mainstream media is complicit in lying to the American people about Joe Biden’s mental state. They owe an apology not only to our campaign but more importantly to the American people for this massive scandal that has destroyed our country over the past four years,” she said.
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump participate in the first presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 27, 2024. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Ahead of the debate, Biden had come under fire for a series of public gaffes and missed calls, including at events abroad with world leaders, including when former President Barack Obama tried to shove Biden off the stage by grabbing him by the wrist at a fundraiser in Los Angeles this month and when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tried to remove Biden from office. A gathering of world leaders This month in Italy, the president was seen standing nearly motionless during a Juneteenth concert at the White House after taking a few steps away from the group and giving a thumbs up to a parachutist, leading to a viral video.
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gives instructions to President Biden during the G7 event. (Fox News/Pool)
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The White House pushed back after criticism that the videos were “cheap fakes” and coined a new buzzword for the 2024 presidential election, but was quickly ridiculed by conservatives on social media, who claimed the administration was “gaslighting” the American people.
President Obama grabs President Biden’s wrist at a fundraiser. (Christopher Gardner, via Storyful)
“This is cheap fake news. It’s maliciously produced. Some media outlets have made it very clear that right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem because fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them spreading misinformation and disinformation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of cheap fake news earlier this month.
The Biden-Harris campaign also promoted the “cheap fake” narrative, calling it a “big part of Trump’s election strategy.”
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“Biden-Harris Deputy Campaign Manager Rob Flaherty: Donald Trump is desperate to distract from his unpopular policies, which is why his campaign is rolling out ‘cheap fakes’ – videos edited to misrepresent President Biden. These doctored videos are a big part of Trump’s election strategy,” the campaign posted. X earlier this month.
