“President Biden put a Medal of Honor on a veteran backwards during an award ceremony.”
Verdict
❌FalseConfidence
Solid evidence with some gaps or secondary sources.
What We Found
The claim that President Biden placed a Medal of Honor on a veteran backwards is false. The video circulating on social media was manipulated and grainy, leading to a false interpretation of the event during the July 2022 ceremony.
Evidence
On July 5, 2022, President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to four Vietnam War veterans, including Dwight Birdwell. Shortly after the ceremony, a low-resolution, blurry video clip began circulating on social media platforms, including Truth Social and Twitter, with claims that the President had placed the medal around the veteran's neck backwards. Independent reviews and analysis of the original, high-quality footage of the event confirm that the President followed standard procedure and did not place the medal on backwards. The viral video was identified as a manipulated or misleadingly edited clip that distorted the reality of the event. The claim originated from social media users and was amplified by figures such as Sebastian Gorka.
What's Missing or Misleading
The original claim relied on a low-quality, grainy video clip that obscured the actual orientation of the medal. High-quality footage of the same event shows the medal was placed correctly.
Sources Reviewed (2)
Manipulated video of Biden awarding Medal of Honor gets millions of views on social media
Fact check: Anti-Biden commentators spread false claim that he affixed a Medal of Honor ‘backwards’
This fact-check was generated by automated AI research. It has not been examined by a human reviewer.