The claim: One image shows Joe Biden signing executive orders with his left hand, previous photos show him writing with his right hand
After conspiracy theorists falsely claimed former first lady Melania Trump used a double body for public appearances, some social media posts were published targeting President Joe Biden and accusing him of doing the same .
A viral post shared on February 12 compares side-by-side images of Biden signing documents with different hands in a bid to support the claim.
One photo is a recent image of Biden signing executive orders in the Oval Office with his left hand, and the other shows a photo of him allegedly writing with his right hand. A caption under both photos reads: “Is he left-handed or right-handed?”
“Oops. Biden’s double body is left-handed. The casting director slipped!” reads text included in the article, which has over 600 shares.
Another Facebook user shared the same two images on Feb. 3 and wrote: “Ok, people agree in 2008 Joe Biden is right-handed. Joe Biden in 2021 is left-handed. The stories are true, our president is a double of the body. “
USA TODAY has reached out to Facebook users for comment.
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The image is inverted
Both photos included in the post are authentic, however, the most recent image of Biden in the Oval Office has been turned over to look like he was writing with his left hand.
In the original image, taken by AFP photographer Jim Watson on January 20, the pocket square is on the left side of Biden’s coat, not the right, and he is writing with his right hand.
The executive orders sitting on Biden’s desk and the American flags behind the president also appear on the opposite side of the photo in the authentic version.
The second photo included in the article is genuine and was taken by White House photographer David Lienemann. However, he was not captured in 2008 as the post claims and was taken on April 14, 2010, when Biden served as vice president under the Obama administration.
In the photo, Biden is seen signing a condolence book at the Polish Embassy in Washington, and writing with his right hand.
Social media users have used this method of image mirroring in the past to spread false claims. For example, in 2010, a reverse photo of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama was used to claim that they saluted the flag with their left hand instead of their right, Factcheck.org reported.
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Biden is right handed
In an autocomplete interview with Wired in 2020, Biden answered some of the most popular questions asked about him on Google, one of them being: “Is Joe Biden left-handed?” In response, Biden confirmed that he does not write with his left hand.
Only eight presidents have been left-handed. James. A Garfield was the first left-handed president, according to Potus.com. Barack Obama was the most recent.
Claims that Biden has an individual booth as himself for public events have already been debunked by Snopes.
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Our rating: False
A post using an altered image of President Joe Biden to claim he has a double body is FALSE, our research shows. A photo included in the post was digitally flipped to make Biden appear as if he was writing with his left hand. Biden previously confirmed in an interview that he is right-handed and claims that the president has a double body is wrong.
Our sources of fact-checking:
- Getty Images, January 20, TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-INAUGURATION
- Factcheck.org, January 11, mirror image
- Flickr, April 14, 2010, Obama White House
- Wired, May 20, “Joe Biden Answers The Web’s Most Popular Questions”
- POTUS.com, left-handed
- Snopes, December 17, “Does Joe Biden have a double body?”
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