On April 23, 2024, X user @LeadingReport posted a clip of U.S. President Joe Biden extending his hands out before walking toward the audience and saluting. According to the account, he seemed to be trying to shake hands with a "ghost." The post received a staggering 25.2 million views and 48,000 likes, as of this writing.
"BREAKING: Leading Report is lying again," one user wrote in the comments. "Instead, Biden was gesturing toward the crowd RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM."
The video is available on C-SPAN, with the moment in question viewable at minute 13:56.
It was captioned:
President Biden campaigned in Tampa, Florida, where he urged voters to use their voices at the ballot box to protect reproductive rights. The president's remarks came just one week before a Florida six-week abortion ban was to take effect. He placed the blame for the law and the overturning of Roe v. Wade on former President Donald Trump. President Biden said outlawing abortion was a "political deal" between the evangelical base of the Republican party and Donald Trump.
Biden can be seen extending his hands outward toward the audience; however, we were unable to prove that he was attempting to shake someone's hand who wasn't there. Therefore, we have rated this claim as "Unproven."
A pattern of misinformation has historically surrounded older politicians and presidential candidates, but in Biden's case, there has been a particular emphasis on his physical and mental abilities, given that he is the oldest president holding office in history, at age 81.
We've previously reported on this trend of misinformation, finding an uptick in such claims after Biden took office in 2021. We've found many claims — including that Biden fell on the stairs to Air Force One, mistakenly called Russian President Vladimir Putin "President Trump," and used the phrase "any country in America" in a campaign speech — to be true.