First lady Jill Biden had a long night.
First, she watched President Joe Biden give a primetime speech from the Oval Office about his decision to step away from his reelection bid. Then she hopped on a plane from Washington, D.C., for a long flight to Paris, where she is leading the U.S. delegation for the opening of the summer Olympics.
But to some social media users, these two different events are evidence of a deep-state conspiracy.
“THEY ARE GETTING SLOPPY Jill Biden in Paris… ALONE (more than an 8 hour trip away) AND at the White House with ‘Joe Biden’ AT THE SAME TIME,” said a July 25 X post that shared a split-screen video showing the first lady arriving in Paris next to one of her standing next to the president outside the White House after his speech.
We found multiple X posts sharing the same or similar language and the same video, including one that said it was the “deep state” that was “getting sloppy,” and referring to “Joe Faux Biden.”
The X posts shared a video and language from Matt Wallace, a Trump supporter who has a blue-check X account that means the platform gives his posts algorithmic priority. Wallace posted the video and claim on X, but later deleted the post. Wallace recently shared false rumors on X that Joe Biden was dead and that the president was being “held under the White House.”
We reached out to Wallace through an X message, but didn’t immediately hear back.
There is no Jill Biden doppelganger in Paris, despite these claims. News reports from Washington, D.C., and from Paris show that the first lady was in two places in two different time zones, but clearly not at the same time.
(X screenshot)
Jill Biden watched her husband tell voters why he dropped out of the race for president. News photos show her in the Oval Office with the president.
Then she left for Paris, on a previously scheduled trip to lead the U.S. Olympics delegation.
President Joe Biden stands with first lady Jill Biden after addressing the nation from the Oval Office of the White House, July 24, 2024, about his decision to drop his reelection bid. (AP)
A press pool report (where a reporter shares information with other outlets when access to official events is limited) from CNN reporter Betsy Klein shows that Jill Biden was “wheels up for Paris” at 10 p.m. ET July 24.
Biden arrived in Paris July 25 at about 4:39 a.m. ET, 10:39 a.m. local time, a second pool report said. That’s a six hour, 39-minute flight. She emerged from the plane at 5:01 a.m. ET, 11:01 a.m. local time, the report said.
Vanessa Valdivia, the first lady’s press secretary, also said in an X post she shared at 5:22 a.m. ET that they had arrived in Paris, sharing an image of Jill Biden waving as she exited Air Force Two.
X post claims that Jill Biden was in Washington, D.C., and Paris at the same time defy the law of physics. We rate them Pants on Fire!