During a G7 summit event on Thursday, President Joe Biden was steered back to a group of international leaders by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni after he appeared to wander off.
As the leaders from the wealthiest nations in the world clapped for a skydiving presentation, the 81-year-old president had his attention drawn elsewhere. The other leaders appeared to only be interested in what was in front of them.
Biden left the group in order to see what appeared to be another man packing up a parachute. The rest of the world leaders stayed behind until Meloni took note of the US president breaking off and walking in another direction.
At that point, Meloni walked backward over to Biden, got his attention, and then gestured in the direction that the rest of the G7 leaders were looking. Many of the others in the group looked on awkwardly.
The White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates made a post to defend the president, saying, “[Biden is] saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up." Bates then said that the original video was cropped by the New York Post. The trip to the G7 summit is Biden’s second visit to Europe in the last few weeks, as he went to France last week to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day.
During that event, Biden appeared to begin to sit down into his seat as other leaders, including French President Emmanual Macron, remained standing for several seconds. The two moments that appear to show Biden's age are part of a slew of different instances where citizens have grown increasingly concerned over Biden's age as the leader of the US.
