Did Donald Trump freeze for 21 seconds during a speech at a rally in Bozeman, Montana? No, that's not true: He was speaking when he saw there was a situation in the crowd, then paused his speech and called for a doctor to assist. Trump did not immediately resume his speech but continued to speak reassuring words to the people responding to the emergency.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok by @kingkashed. It was captioned:
His cognitive decline is accelerating just waiting for the media to treat him like they did joe biden after the debate ...wont hold my breathe! #kamala #Harris #2024 #election #Donaldtrump #trump #republican #democrat #politics #speech #nominee #America
Text on the video reads:
BREAKING: Trump freezes for 21 seconds during speech at his rally and Fox News has to cut away!
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Aug 12 14:26:31 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories was able to isolate footage from the 30-second long TikTok clip within Fox News coverage of the August 9, 2024, Bozeman, Montana, rally which was streamed live on YouTube. The TikTok video does not feature audio from the rally but the voiceover of a man counting seconds of Trump not speaking. At the start of the TikTok clip there is closed-captioning text visible (below left circled in yellow) referencing "the governor's wife" (at 2:30:02 hours in the Fox News video). At the end of the TikTok video, although the audio is muted, it is clear (below right) when the crowd was chanting "Four more years" in unison while holding up four fingers for emphasis (at 2:30:36 in the Fox News video).
(Image source: Lead Stories composite image from TikTok screenshots taken on Mon Aug 12 16:06:32 2024 UTC)
The YouTube video embedded below is set to begin playing just as Trump was speaking, and cries of "Medic, medic!" could be heard from the audience at 2:28:21. Trump heard this and paused, called for a doctor, and then continued with reassuring words. Near the end of this caption is when the TikTok clip begins:
A doctor please. Doctor in the house. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you. Take your time. Take your time doc. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, we love these people. They wait for two days sometimes, and then, uh it's a -- it's tough. It's not easy. Are they okay? Thank you very much, and ... Doctor take your time. Good, thank you darling, thank you, thank you, take your time doctor. Please we got a lot of time right? Nice Friday evening, Friday evening in Montana. I think my next drive is going to be about three, four hours, from, I wish it was a little closer. You, that's a one thing, but that's OK. That's all right. Our governor says we have all the time we want. Greg says we have all, you got one of the best governors. I don't know if you know -- do they appreciate it or not? I don't know, and the governor's wife, I don't know. He's a great one. He's a great guy. We better we better get four more years.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims about the 2024 elections can be found here.
