President Joe Biden's health and fitness will face fresh focus during the 2024 election campaign amid worries he is too old to hold office.
Biden, who was 78 when he was inaugurated in January 2021, is the oldest person to ever hold the office of the presidency and would be 86 by the end of a hypothetical second term.
As critics and supporters continue to debate whether he can endure an octogenarian second term, one spurious claim was shared on social media alleging that Biden had suffered a "MASSIVE HEART ATTACK," despite no wider coverage or rumors.
The Claim
Multiple posts on X, formerly Twitter, on January 23, 2024, claimed that President Joe Biden had died from a heart attack. Users @JoshHall2024 and @billintheburbs both wrote "BREAKING: Joe Biden has PASSED AWAY from a MASSIVE HEART ATTACK."
The Facts
The tweets about Biden's alleged heart attack were made at or before 1:40 p.m. ET on Tuesday, more than two hours before Biden appeared on stage in Manassas, Virginia.
The president appeared alongside first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski at a campaign event targeting the Republican Party's record and policies on abortion rights.
While the president received some cheers from the crowd, he was interrupted on multiple occasions with shouts of "Ceasefire now" and "Genocide Joe," a reference to his support of Israel and its fight against the militant group Hamas since its October 7 attack.
Biden was scheduled to deliver remarks at a political event at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C., at 1:30 p.m. ET Wednesday before returning to the White House for a presidential briefing at 3:30.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment.
The president has been the subject of repetitive and potentially botted messages on social media before.
In 2022, dozens of posts were sent out on Twitter, now X, containing the same message from "Honest US citizens" saying he was "one of the best presidents in the country right now." Newsweek traced the messages and found a network of misleading accounts that had spread spam posts about Biden and other political leaders around the world.
The Ruling
False.
Joe Biden has not had a heart attack. The posts were sent before Biden appeared at a rally in Virginia. The White House has not made any announcements regarding the president's health, let alone news of a heart attack.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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