During the first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, X user @iAnonPatriot — whose bio displayed support for former U.S. President Donald Trump — posted a 20-second video clip claiming it showed U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris "too intoxicated to stand up."
The user's post ( archived ) read, "BREAKING: Kamala Harris appears to be too intoxicated to stand up. This is getting bad." As of this writing, the user had pinned the post to the top of their profile and it showed more than 1.5 million views.
However, this claim was false. Just seconds after the brief video clip ended, Harris stood and applauded during all of President Joe Biden's four-minute-plus standing ovation. She also stood and applauded minutes earlier, as well as throughout the evening. In other words, @iAnonPatriot's claim was made out of whole cloth. Further, they provided no evidence of Harris purportedly consuming alcohol or being "intoxicated."
We sent a direct message to @iAnonPatriot asking for comment about this matter but did not yet receive a response.
Reviewing the Evidence
The video clip posted by @iAnonPatriot featured a moment from the end of a speech delivered by President Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, on Aug. 19. Near the end of her speech, she said, "In 2020, my dad selected Kamala Harris to beat Donald Trump. And he knows, in 2024, she will beat Donald Trump again."
At that moment, the audience stood and applauded for Harris. Harris remained seated, as the applause was intended for her. In such a situation, it can be customary to humbly show appreciation either by sitting or standing.
Seconds later, after Ashley Biden introduced her father for his keynote speech, Harris stood and applauded for more than four minutes. Also, again, Harris stood and applauded throughout the evening.
A video broadcast live on YouTube by CBS News features all of the aforementioned moments continuously. The 20 seconds from @iAnonPatriot's video clip with Ashley Biden speaking occurs at the 10:39 mark. The same video also shows numerous shots of Harris standing and applauding during Biden's standing ovation between the 12:00 and 16:14 marks.
For further reading, we previously reported about a similar false rumor claiming a video showed former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drunk and slurring her speech.
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