Biden Wasn't Caught Using Teleprompter During Interview
The Claim
During an interview with Telemundo, U.S. Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden was caught using a teleprompter.
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Emerging story
In September 2020, Biden held an interview with Telemundo Noticias. Following the interview’s airing, a short clip made its way through social media that supposedly showed that Biden was using a teleprompter for the interview, implying that his answers to the interviewer’s questions were scripted.
President Trump’s son Eric shared the clip on his Twitter account, which then caused the rumor to spread even more so across social media.
Misbar’s Analysis
As the clip spread across social media, the Misbar team decided to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rumor. We discovered that the clip was taken out of context. During the interview, Biden took questions from potential voters via streaming video from a nearby screen. The clip actually shows Biden speaking to a potential female voter. The full video is below.
Shortly after this, the stream between the potential voter and Biden cut out. As a result, Biden then said, “OK, I lost that line,” referring to the video feed.
Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart, who was interviewing Biden during the incident, denied the allegation that Biden was using a teleprompter for the interview. In an interview with Politico, Díaz-Balart said that Biden was answering questions coming from an off-camera screen.
“In one moment, the monitor went to black,” Diaz-Balart said. “I told him he could answer looking at me and that was that.”
Numerous media sources have also debunked the teleprompter claim. With the rebuke of the supposed gaffe given by Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart, as well as the full interview providing the proper context to the questionable moment, the claim that Biden was caught using a teleprompter is false.
