DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A social media post showing a video featuring US President Joe Biden in the middle of a crowd sporting a Trump 2024 hat over his own is making the rounds with a claim that it was another lapse on his part. See the post:
The claim posted in Spanish, when translated into English reads: “Joe Biden had another lapse and put on a Donald Trump cap.” Even Trump war Room circulated the image with a claim suggesting Biden was supporting Trump.
FACT CHECK
The initial search on Biden wearing the hat showed us results about an event held on Sept. 11, 2024 in Shanksville Fire Station, Pennsylvania. Here’s the official video in which President Biden wore the hat and was seen joking about it while interacting with the crowd. The event marked the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks as Shanksville is a town close to where one of the four hijacked planes crashed.
Here’s what happened when Biden put on the Trump hat.pic.twitter.com/hL169nrCH3
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 13, 2024
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a Sept. 11 post on X, formerly Twitter, that Biden’s gesture was part of a call for bipartisan unity. “As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it,” Bates wrote.
At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that.
As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it. https://t.co/7VKZnkVMY7
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) September 11, 2024
Hence, the claim that Biden was wearing a Trump hat in a moment of ‘lapse’ is false. He was seen wearing it for a few seconds when handed over by a Trump supporter in the crowd to lighten the situation and the incident has nothing to do with the allegation that he was suffering from a lapse.
Claim: Biden wore a Trump hat for several seconds at 9/11 event, showing mental lapse.
Conclusion: Misleading. Biden friendly swapped caps with a Trump supporter in crowd and not because of mental lapse.
Rating: Misleading — 
