Biden is back in the White House. Viral claims he was dying are unfounded

After President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for Democratic front-runner, claims have surfaced online that Biden, 81, is missing, terminally ill, dying or already dead.

Several conservative social media users claimed the following on July 22, the day after Biden’s announcement:

• “Where is Biden? This is the last time he has been seen in public,” claimed a July 22 X post from the Republican National Committee-run RNC Research account.

• “Joe Biden is currently in hospice care and will likely not make it through the night,” read a July 22 Instagram post, which showed a screenshot of an X message from an account called Global Press.

• “Joe Biden is dying and final preparations are being made for him. He was supposed to leave Delaware today, but his health has deteriorated,” claimed a July 22 X post by conservative activist and commentator Laura Loomer.

• “There are rumors that Joe Biden is dead,” a conservative user with a blue checkmark, Matt Wallace, claimed in a July 22 post.

Similar claims about Biden’s health also circulated in Spanish.

These claims are unfounded. Biden has been out of the public eye for several days, having been diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 17 and is recovering at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Biden returned to the White House on July 23.

Why are these claims unfounded?

Some social media posts speculated that he had something more serious than COVID-19, but a recent report from the White House physician found that “the President’s symptoms have resolved.” The report also noted that his vital signs and lungs remained normal throughout his infection.

Biden spoke to his campaign staff by phone for the first time on July 22 after endorsing Harris. While some on social media speculated that Biden’s voice during the call was generated by artificial intelligence, we found no credible information to support that. The White House did not respond to our questions but posted the transcript of the call on its website, saying it was “via a conference call.”

Biden answered several questions from Harris during the conversation.

He first appeared on July 23, and reporters captured video of him boarding Air Force One. He told reporters he was feeling “fine.”

The president is expected to address the nation at 8 p.m. on July 24. The following day, Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among other public appearances that day and later in the week.

Is Biden Giving Up His Presidential Authority?

Former President Donald Trump said on Truth Social: “Does Lyin’ Kamala Harris think Joe Biden is fit to lead America for the next six months? She has to answer the question. Now it appears Joe is delegating his presidential authority to unelected bureaucrats in Washington!”

Other social media users, such as Loomer, made similar statements to Trump:

“Biden is dying and has quietly begun delegating his powers as president to the Secretaries of Treasury and State,” a July 22 message from X said.

The message contains a memorandum on ‘Delegation of certain functions and powers under the law on the restoration of economic prosperity for Ukrainians’. There is also another memorandum in the thread of the message on the Authorization Act for the 2024 budget year.

But we found that the memos Biden signed are not unusual and do not constitute evidence of him surrendering presidential power.

Trump signed similar memos in 2019 and 2020, as did other presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Legal experts told us that the memos shared in the messages are completely unremarkable.

Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University, told PolitiFact that presidents issue these memoranda so they can authorize others to pass laws.

He said the delegation of authority Biden signed in those memoranda meets the terms of 3 U.S.C. § 301, which states:

The President of the United States is authorized to designate and authorize the head of any department or agency in the Executive Branch, or an officer thereof to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform, without the approval, confirmation, or other action of the President, (1) any function which by law is conferred upon the President, or (2) any function which such officer by law may or may not perform except with or subject to the approval, confirmation, or other action of the President.

“There are so many federal laws that give presidents so many responsibilities that they can’t possibly do it all themselves. Section 301 recognized this and made the delegation of presidential power more regular and formulaic,” Kalt said.

Joel Goldstein, a law professor emeritus at St. Louis University Law School, told us that if Biden were to delegate his presidential powers and duties to the vice president, he would do so under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment.

“The President must send a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate declaring that he or she is ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his or her office’ and accordingly transferring presidential power and duties to the Vice President pursuant to Section 3 of the amendment,” Goldstein said in an email.

Such transfers of power have occurred only four times in American history, during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush (twice) and Biden, when he underwent a medical procedure under anesthesia.

“President Biden has not done that in this case, and there is no reason to believe that he is unable to discharge his presidential powers and duties,” Goldstein said.

Where Unsubstantiated Claims About Biden’s Health Came From

Many of the claims about Biden dying or having serious health problems come from conservative users on X who are known for spreading false or misleading information. These users have not cited any sources to support their claims.

RNC Research shared reports that Biden was missing. The two reports were viewed hundreds of thousands of times collectively.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said on X that Biden was “hiding” and demanded “proof of life” from him by 5 p.m. on July 22. The post has been viewed 5.8 million times. (Biden appeared publicly the next day, when he returned to the White House.)

Loomer posted multiple times on X about Biden being “dying” or “terminally ill.” Collectively, these posts were viewed more than 33.8 million times.

Samuel Woolley, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism and Media who specializes in propaganda studies, said claims about Biden’s health likely spread so quickly and widely online because he withdrew from the presidential race amid widespread debate about his age and fitness.

These claims are “closely tied” to previous reporting about Biden’s health, Woolley said.

“The rumors about Biden’s health are reminiscent of previous false claims about Hillary Clinton’s ‘fainting spells’ in 2016 and Donald Trump’s physical fitness in 2018,” Woolley said.

On July 23, false claims circulated on social media that former President Jimmy Carter had died.