President Joe Biden didn’t get taller. It’s the camera angle, not a growth spurt or body double

After President Joe Biden addressed the nation July 24 about his decision to exit the 2024 presidential race, Biden walked out into the White House’s Rose Garden standing tall. But some social media users claimed the president looked too tall.

A July 25 Instagram post shared a video of Biden walking from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden, with first lady Jill Biden and other Biden family members standing behind him. The video’s narrator said, "People are saying Joe Biden looks a lot taller."

The Instagram video then showed photos of Joe and Jill Biden together to note their height difference, implying that it wasn’t as big in those instances. "There’s obviously something going on here," the narrator said, flashing back to the Rose Garden and noting that Jill Biden was wearing heels.

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(Screengrab from Instagram)

We saw the same claim circulating on X, where the footage of Biden was being used to prop up the false conspiracy theory that Biden employs a body double for public appearances. This conspiracy gained traction ahead of the June 27 presidential debate.

PolitiFact and other news outlets have repeatedly fact-checked false claims that Biden employs a body double or that video footage shows a masked impersonator instead of the real Biden.

Social media users have also speculated that Biden’s recent appearances, including a July 22 phone call with Vice President Kamala Harris, have been generated with artificial intelligence. We found no credible evidence to support this claim.

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Threads posts

stated on July 3, 2024 in a post on Threads

CNN reported July 3 that “Joe has decided to drop out of the 2024 Presidential race and will be replaced by Hunter Biden.”

Also, people stop growing during adolescence. So, it’s biologically improbable that Biden, as an 81-year-old, grew taller over the few days he isolated in his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home following his COVID-19 diagnosis July 17. Biden’s official health summary from February says he is 6 feet tall. 

So, if Biden doesn’t have a body double, and he didn’t have miraculous growth spurt, what explains Biden’s taller appearance in the Rose Garden video? 

It’s the camera angle.

Biden was standing atop the steps by the colonnade outside of the Oval Office, and the cameraperson was in the Rose Garden. So, Biden stood in an elevated position compared with the person filming.

Angling a camera up at people can make them look taller in photos and videos.

(Left image is a screengrab from Instagram. Right photo is courtesy of The Associated Press.)

Joe Biden also appears taller in the video because he is standing a few steps in front of Jill Biden, and people closer to the camera will naturally look bigger. Another photo of the Bidens, which was taken just before they walked out of the Oval Office and toward the Rose Garden, shows less of an apparent height difference because they are standing side by side.

We rate the claim that a video shows Biden was taller when he emerged from a July 24 Oval Office speech Pants on Fire!