In another embarrassing moment captured on camera, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called US President Joe Biden back for a group photo after he was seen straying. This video has gone viral.
At the G7 conference in southern Italy on Thursday, June 13, President Biden is seen in the video straying during a skydiving exercise before the Meloni summoned him back to the group.
The event took place as the world’s top leaders were enjoying the evening’s parachute show.
As the 81-year-old US president’s gaze obviously strayed, the attention of the world leaders was diverted. He seemed to turn away from his colleagues heads of state and possibly had a few words with an officer carrying a parachute.
Then, with his back to the international leaders, Meloni approached Biden in reverse and gently stroked the president’s right arm to signal that he was welcome to re-join the group.
Subsequently, Biden was surrounded by the other leaders, and a picture was taken with the president sporting his aviator sunglasses.
The awkward moment between Biden and the camera was brought to light by the Republican National Committee’s RNC Research X account, which shared the video along with the all-caps question, “WHAT IS BIDEN DOING?”
“As if Meloni doesn’t already have enough on her hands, she’s stuck chaperoning Grandpa Joe,” Dan McLaughlin, a senior editor for the National Review and sporadic columnist for the Post, wrote on X.
“He had to be tracked down by the prime minister of another nation to prevent him from rambling off aimlessly. What a shame,” writer Ian Miller of Outkick continued.
President Biden was defended by White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, who asserted that the video—which was extensively shared by wire services—had been altered.
Bates commented, “[Biden is] giving a thumbs up and congratulating one of the divers,” on X.
Biden had seen Meloni a few hours earlier in the city of Fasano, where the conference was being held.
Biden is on his second trip to Europe; the first was last week, when he traveled to France to take part in events honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
