Donald Trump Jr shares doctored Biden video in last minute attack before father leaves office
Fact checker said video had been edited to promote false narrative
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump Jr has taken one final false swing at President-elect Joe Biden before his father leaves office on Inauguration Day by sharing a doctored video of him on Twitter.
The president’s eldest son was called out by a fact-checker on Tuesday for promoting the fake clip, which attempted to show Mr Biden lost and confused on stage at an event on 16 January.
“Yikes. If he was a Republican the 25th amendment talk would be trending and rightfully so,” the 43-year-old wrote as a caption to the video, which has since amassed 64,000 likes.
Nonprofit fact-checker Politifact reported on Tuesday that the video had in fact been edited to promote a false narrative.
The original footage from the event, during which Mr Biden announced members of his White House science team, shows Mr Biden making some closing remarks alongside Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.
Another angle also shows that when Mr Biden leaves the podium and stands at the table momentarily, he’s waiting for other people to leave the stage.
On Twitter, the doctored video has gained more than three million views, and Politifact reported that similar clips had also been circulating on Facebook.
Twitter flagged the video as “manipulated media”, but users were apparently still able to retweet and share the video. Facebook also flagged the content in an attempt to stem the spread of misinformation.
Politifact pointed to a misinformation guide by The Washington Post to define the video as manipulated by “omission.”
Omission involves “editing out large portions from a video and presenting it as a complete narrative, despite missing key elements, is a technique used to skew reality," the newspaper says.
Some social media users were quick to call out the president’s son for promotion of the false narrative, saying: “the outgoing president's 43-year old son is spreading manipulated media online.”
Others called on Twitter to do more to remove the video, which continued to gain traction on social media platforms, including whistleblower Shahmir Sanni who tweeted: “Hi @Twitter this one needs to be banned too.”
The Trump campaign has long attempted to paint Mr Biden as senile and incompetent in an attempt to undermine his bid for president and leadership.
Donald Trump Jr has also made several false claims about Mr Biden and the 2020 election in support of his father’s bid to remain in power.
But despite Mr Trump and many of his family's best efforts, Mr Biden will be inaugurated as president on 20 January 2021 to become the 46th president of the United States.
The president and first lady Melania Trump are breaking the tradition of meeting the incoming first family greeted by White House and will not attend the inauguration on Wednesday.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments