NEW: White House Responds To Conservative Furor Over Biden-Obama Fundraiser Video
A video from a big Hollywood fundraiser for the campaign of President Joe Biden on Saturday went viral on Sunday, mostly among those on the right side of the aisle who claimed it showed Biden requiring the guidance of former President Barack Obama in order to leave the stage.
The fundraiser with big money LA donors on Saturday brought in over $30 million, according to the campaign, and featured stars such as George Clooney and Barbara Streisand. The event was hosted by late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who spent about 40 minutes speaking with Biden and Obama on stage, at the end of which, as the presidents were leaving the stage, cameras showed Obama take Biden’s arm before they walked off stage together.
The New York Post wrote about the clip under the headline “Biden appears to freeze up, has to be led off stage by Obama at mega-bucks LA fundraiser.” And on X (formerly Twitter) the clip went viral, with plenty of big names weighing in, to include talk host Piers Morgan, who called it “embarrassing.”
In a statement to Mediaite, Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates blasted the “ethical standards” of “Rupert Murdoch’s sad little super pac, the New York Post“:
Fresh off being fact checked by at least 6 mainstream news organizations for lying about President Biden with cheap fakes, Rupert Murdoch’s sad little super pac, the New York Post, is back to disrespecting it’s readers and itself once again by pretending the President taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds is somehow wrong. Their ethical standards could deal with a little unfreezing.
On X, Bates also retweeted users who objected to the characterizations of the video by the right, many of whom included or referenced alternate video they claim disputes those characterizations.
LIES again. Here’s the ending of the fundraiser yesterday. pic.twitter.com/jZWV7AiY4Q
— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) June 16, 2024
Many other users on Sunday were instead focused on a story going viral on the left about former President Donald Trump not recalling the name of the doctor who administered his mental fitness test.
Watch the clips above via X (formerly Twitter).
