For some social media users, something was missing from President Joe Biden’s letter announcing his exit from the presidential race: the presidential seal.
Biden published the letter July 21 on X. On the same day, an X user posted a side-by-side comparison of Biden’s letter and former President Richard Nixon’s resignation letter, saying, “Even Nixon’s resignation letter had the Presidential seal on it. Why doesn’t Biden’s?”
“This wasn’t Biden’s choice whatsoever,” the post said.
Several other X posts called out the letter’s lack of the presidential seal, racking up high engagement and hundreds of thousands of views.
(Screenshot from X)
But the letter’s absence of a presidential seal doesn’t prove that it didn’t come from Biden, or that it wasn’t “Biden’s choice.” Unlike Nixon’s decision to resign from the presidency, Biden was discontinuing only his campaign; he continues to serve as president. Biden’s letter was a matter handled by his reelection campaign, not his presidential office.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates told PolitiFact in an email, “As you can see from the twitter account that posted the letter, it is a campaign item – not an official White House one. The Presidential seal is used for official business, not campaign business.”
U.S. Code Title 18, Section 713 governs the use of the presidential seal. It prohibits its use “for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States.”
“Because dropping out was the action of Biden as candidate, not Biden as President, it seems strange to claim that the letter should have had the presidential seal,” Rogers Smith, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor, told PolitiFact in an email.
Biden has published other letters without the seal on his account with the handle “@JoeBiden.” Such letters included a July 8 letter to Democrats on Capitol Hill about his campaign and a Dec. 1, 2022, letter to the Democratic National Convention Rules and Bylaws Committee about principles he believes should guide the nominating process.
Biden posted the July 21 letter announcing his decision to discontinue his campaign for reelection four days after a July 17 test showed he was positive for COVID-19. In the letter, he said he would address the nation about this decision “later this week.” He has since announced July 23 that he will address the nation at 8 p.m. ET on July 24.
We rate the claim that the lack of a presidential seal on Biden’s letter announcing his exit from the presidential race proves it wasn’t authorized False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
RELATED: Fact-check: Is replacing Joe Biden on the ticket ‘unlawful’? Election law experts say it’s not