Did President Joe Biden grow mysteriously taller after spending time away from the public eye recovering from COVID-19? No, that's not true: The video footage used by people claiming this on social media shows Biden from a lower level, which gives an illusion of greater height relative to the people and architecture behind him. Different camera angles of the same Rose Garden event on July 24, 2024 do not show this illusory height difference effect.
The claim about Biden's height appeared in a post (archived here) on Instagram by @padleypdg on July 26, 2024. It was captioned:
Our president got so tall after he went missing⚠️⚠️⚠️ #reelsvideo #reels #trending #teamwork #crazy
Text added under the video reads:
Bro went missing and got taller
Bro might just be an alien
This is how the post appeared at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tue Jul 30 18:36:01 2024 UTC)
Another example of this claim was posted on X (archived here), formerly known as Twitter, by Infowars host Alex Jones on July 26, 2024. That post was captioned:
There is no doubt that is not the real Joe Biden. The legs are 6 to 8 inches longer and the face is clearly different. The deep state has completed.Its coup over the executive branch and is guaranteed to attempt another election theft.
The conspiracy narrative appeared after Biden had been recovering for several days at his beach house in Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19 on July 17, 2024. Biden was filmed boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, D.C. on July 23, 2024, after he had tested negative for the virus, according to the president's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor (PDF here).
CNN published a timeline of the events on July 24, 2024, after Biden addressed the nation at roughly 8 pm ET.
At 8:27 p.m., CNN wrote, "Staff has moved to Rose Garden to greet Biden."
Moving from the Oval Office after the president's speech, the president and first lady Jill Biden walked a few steps along the West Wing colonnade to the five central steps that lead down to the Rose Garden lawn. A 2020 photo (below) shows the close proximity of the Oval Office, at the left corner of the West Wing, to these stairs.
Here, Biden addressed his staff from the top step. This is the location where the video on Instagram was filmed.
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Jul 30 20:53:28 2024 UTC)
In the Lead Stories composite image below, camera angles from two images of the same scene in the Rose Garden are contrasted. On the left is a photo from a July 24, 2024, article in The Daily Mail; on the right is a screenshot from the video on Instagram.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image from dailymail.co.uk and Instagram screenshots taken on Tue Jul 30 21:10:23 2024 UTC)
In the Daily Mail photo, the tops of people's heads are visible in the foreground, indicating that the photographer is holding the camera up high.
The video footage, however, appears to have been shot from the front row of the lawn by someone who had not raised his or her camera. From standing at the top of the stairs, Biden had an eye level above the camera. This created an illusion of extra height.
An article titled, "How to Shoot and Edit Photos to Make Your Subject Look Taller," published on the technology-news site MUD, describes how "shooting from a lower angle" can make a person "appear taller in photos." It elaborates:
By pointing the camera upwards from a lower point than the subject's eye-line, the lower body is emphasized and will appear elongated ...
A slight upward angle is all you need for that extra bit of height and to avoid any distortion.
A CNN photo from its 8:53 pm ET update on July 24, 2024, shot at a different angle from the video on Instagram, shows Joe and Jill Biden standing behind the 32½-inch-tall Resolute desk in the Oval Office after the president's Rose Garden appearance. Although taller than his wife, Biden is not towering over her.
(Source: CNN screenshot taken on Tue Jul 30 20:07:33 2024 UTC)
If Biden had actually grown during his COVID-19 isolation, this would have sparked extensive visual documentation by international media who regularly cover the president. A Google News search (archived here), however, revealed only fact checks debunking the claim of a strange growth spurt.
At the time this was written, PolitiFact had reviewed the same claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Biden's July 24, 2024, speech and withdrawal from the presidential race can be found here and here. Claims that he is secretly dead or dying are here and here.
