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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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A video appearing to show President Biden with his eyes shut for an extended period during a Memorial Day event on Monday has been widely shared on social media, with conservative activists alleging he was sleeping during an address by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Biden commemorated Memorial Day at the Arlington National Cemetery on Monday where he laid a wreath by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as part of an annual show of respect.
Ahead of their likely presidential rematch in November, Donald Trump, 77, has focused heavily on the cognitive faculties of 81-year-old Biden, branding him "sleepy Joe." However, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee himself has been accused of falling asleep during his ongoing hush money trial in Manhattan, though he strongly denied this on his Truth Social website.
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On X (formerly Twitter), a number of conservative-leaning accounts shared a 48-second clip in which an unknown person zooms in on Biden during television coverage of the Memorial Day event. An unidentified woman's voice can be heard saying: "Look Biden's sleeping. His eyes have been closed for about 30 seconds."
The woman asks: "Do you think the media are going to use this?" The voice then says: "He's going to drool—wake up Biden!"
The footage was shared on X by several accounts including '1776,' an account that has an early design of the American flag and an artist's flattering impression of Trump as its cover photo.
Along with the video, the '1776' account wrote: "The amount of c*** Trump got about sitting in court, we will never see this in the media, this guy is sleeping in Memorial Day. Unreal [angry face emoji]."
The post went viral, receiving more than 6,000 reposts, 13,000 likes, and 262,000 views on X.
Newsweek contacted the White House press office and representatives of Joe Biden's 2024 presidential election campaign for comment by email outside of usual business hours.
The X account of Graham Allen, a conservative social media commentator with over 410,000 followers on the platform, also shared the footage, writing: "Joe Biden was literally sleeping during a MEMORIAL DAY ceremony. DISGUSTING."
This post was also widely shared receiving over 3,700 reposts and 409,000 views.
Ian Miles Cheong, a popular conservative commentator with over one million X followers, also posted the video, adding: "Biden fell asleep at the Memorial Day address. What in the world is wrong with him?"
However, another X user, who claimed to be in Virginia, hit back in the comments replying: "Trump had tiny energy after sleeping in court all week during the day."
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Speaking at the Arlington National Cemetery, Biden paid tribute to America's war dead who he said were "bound by a common commitment not to a place, not to a person, not to a president, but to an idea—the idea of the United States of America."
The president said: "Freedom has never been guaranteed. Every generation has had to earn it, fight for it, defend it in the battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few and the rights of many."
On Truth Social, Trump posted a Memorial Day message in which he took aim at E. Jean Carroll, a magazine writer who a New York court concluded the former president sexually assaulted at a Manhattan department store, then defamed after she spoke out.
He said: "Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn't count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for 'DEFAMATION.'"
Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll by a New York City jury in 2023 and ordered to pay $5 million in damages. He was later instructed to pay Carroll a further $83.3 million after a court concluded he had continued defaming her. Both verdicts are being appealed by Trump who denies any wrongdoing.
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