British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended President Joe Biden over claims that he walked away from the assembled leaders at the G7 summit in Italy after a skydiving demonstration Thursday.
Sunak explained, according to the Telegraph, that Biden was going over to greet one of the skydivers who had already landed and a pilot, rather than aimlessly walking away from the demonstration as some outlets have framed the video.
“He went to go and talk to the pilot, one of the parachute jumpers,” Sunak said. “He went to go and shake all their hands.”
The British leader then explained that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ushered Biden back because all of the skydivers were set to come over to greet the leaders.
“They all landed, and he was being very polite and went over to talk to all of them individually, and Giorgia was saying, ‘Don’t worry, they’re all coming,’” Sunak told the outlet. “We were meant to line up, and they were coming to shake our hands.
“As far as I know, he went over to talk to some of the parachute jumpers, saying thank you or hello to them all individually, and then we all lined up, and they all came and lined up,” he added. “Everyone wanted to talk to the person who jumped with their flag. I had a chat with the person with the British flag. That’s what everyone wanted to do.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the videos cropping out the skydivers Biden went to greet were lies and responded to a New York Post post on X with a video showing the full frame.
The Murdoch outlets are so desperate to distract from @POTUS's record that they just lie.
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) June 13, 2024
Here, they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from viewers that he just saw a skydiving demonstration.
He's saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up. Video: https://t.co/Pn0uGtzpLy pic.twitter.com/tDowABzud3
“The Murdoch outlets are so desperate to distract from [Biden’s] record that they just lie,” Bates said in the post on X. “Here, they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from viewers that he just saw a skydiving demonstration. He’s saying congratulations to one of the divers and giving a thumbs up.”
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The G7 meeting in Italy is scheduled to continue through Saturday.
After Biden returns to the United States from the meetings in Europe, he will face off against former President Donald Trump in their first debate of the campaign on June 27.
