Did Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser under President Joe Biden, say that an "unexpected event" that could keep the president in power is "totally possible"? No, that's not true: Those quotes are presented misleadingly in a social media post. Instead, Sullivan said he would only make another press briefing appearance before leaving the position if an "unexpected event" required his commentary.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on January 14, 2025. It included a video of Sullivan talking at a press briefing and was captioned:
Biden's national security advisor just said an 'unexpected event' in the next few days is 'totally possible' and would be the only thing that keeps him in power.
Do you think this is a threat?
While it is not clear who the "him" in the user's caption was referring to -- Sullivan or Biden -- Lead Stories has interpreted the pronoun as referring to Biden.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Jan 15 15:29:54 2025 UTC)
The post misinterprets Sullivan's quotes. In the clip, which was taken from a press briefing held on January 13, 2025, Sullivan says:
I just will say one last word, which is, this is -- I hope this is my last time at this podium, at least for a little while. I don't mean that in a negative sense, I mean the only thing that would bring me back is an unexpected event in the next few days -- which, as you all know, is totally possible given everything you've seen over the course of the past years. But if it is, in fact, my last time before you, I just want to say thank you for what you guys do every day, thank you for putting up with me ...
In an official White House transcript of the press briefing published on January 13, 2025, Sullivan is makes the same statement (archived here).
As the clip and transcript clearly demonstrate, Sullivan was not claiming that an "unexpected event" would occur that would keep Biden in power. Rather, he was qualifying his statement that it would be his last time speaking at the White House press podium. Based on his comments, should any "unexpected event" involving national security happen before he left his position, he would make another appearance (even though he said he had "hope" that he wouldn't have to appear again).
Sullivan is expected to leave his position as national security adviser when Trump is inaugurated on January 20, 2025 (archived here). Trump's designated national security adviser is Rep. Mike Waltz (archived here). Sullivan and Waltz participated in a "passing the baton" event (archived here), during which the two discussed national security affairs relevant to the two administrations.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to Jake Sullivan can be found here.
