On Jan. 15, 2024, former TV judge Joe Brown of the "Judge Joe Brown" show reposted (archived) a video on X (formerly Twitter) that appeared to feature an audio recording of U.S. President Joe Biden caught on a "hot mic" while talking about an issue involving Texas and illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the video, a muffled voice somewhat resembling Biden's can be heard saying the words, "We're going to make sure those cowboys don't stop the surge of military-aged men from entering. If we have to send F-15s to Texas there and wage war against Texas, so be it."
LISTEN TO THIS !!!
Fascist in Chief Biden CLEARLY reveals his nature !
Over an Open Mic
He threatens to have the USAF strafe Texas !!! https://t.co/ZjPpCPnhTN
— JudgeJoeBrown (@JudgeJoeBrownTV) January 16, 2024
The video's caption, which was not written by Brown and may have come from two or more separate previous reposts, read, "Who is more treasonous, the tyrant or the people that let it happen? President has just threatened to attack America. Hot mic caught."
The person pictured in the bottom half of the video was TikTok user @tennmountainviews. A review of that user's account showed that the person had subsequently either deleted or hidden the video, perhaps after being told multiple times by commenters that the supposed Biden audio was likely fake.
The same clip was reposted numerous other times on TikTok and X. We also found further reposts on former U.S. President Donald Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
However, we have yet to uncover any evidence that would suggest Biden ever said these words. Many users who commented under postings of the video suggested that the audio of Biden talking was likely generated by an artificial-intelligence (A.I.) tool.
For example, under a popular TikTok repost of the video, one user commented, "This is clearly A.I. by the speed and clarity and emphasis on odd words. Biden does enough terrible things we don't need to make stuff up."
Another person asked, "Is that AI? I agree with Texas but Biden doesn’t speak that clearly."
Other users mentioned the word "treason," including in one comment that read, "If that is Biden on the tape and not a doctored audio, then this is enough for military to act against treason."
Not only did the vocals in the video seem very much like they were generated by A.I., but the words spoken seemed to have been conjured up by someone with a partisan interest in misleading online users. Again, the two sentences spoken were, "We're going to make sure those cowboys don't stop the surge of military-aged men from entering. If we have to send F-15s to Texas there and wage war against Texas, so be it."
The idea of Biden (or any U.S. president) seriously speaking about ordering U.S. military aircraft to attack or intimidate U.S. citizens is far-fetched, to say the least.
The video made the rounds at the same time that the state of Texas was refusing the Biden administration's request to allow Border Patrol agents access to a park along the U.S.-Mexico border. That park – Shelby Park in Eagle Pass – has historically been known to be a busy access point for migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. The tensions between Texas and the Biden administration come just weeks after migrant crossings reached a record monthly high in December 2023.
We reached out to the White House to ask if it was aware of the video and will update this story if we receive a response.