Did Joe Biden fall asleep at NATO? Viral tweet debunked

A video of American President Joe Biden allegedly falling asleep during the NATO summit that happened in Vilnius, Lithuania, has been making rounds on the internet. On July 12, a user named @bennyjohnson took to his Twitter handle to share a Fox News video of the 80-year-old politician sitting among several world leaders of the NATO alliance.

In the footage, Biden can be seen addressing Turkish President Recep Erdogan and reading from a paper. He said:

"Mr. President, it's good to see you again. I'm delighted to be with you. And uh, you know, we're at this historic summit meeting. We are resolving a lot of things, I hope. And uh, we made uh, you made all the more historic by the agreement you reached yesterday in the admission of Sweden."

The user claimed that the foreign leaders were "left stunned" after Joe Biden fell asleep mid-summit. However, the American president can only be seen confused and reading slowly from the paper he put on his lap while speaking on a lapel mic.

Benny Johnson's tweet quickly became viral and netizens slammed the president for his antics mid-summit. Soon after, it was reported that Biden skipped July 11's NATO dinner while others attended. Fox News reported that this is the third time that the US President skipped a dinner with world leaders during an international trip.

The White House later clarified that Biden had four days full of work ahead of him, and also required time to prepare for a speech.

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Joe Biden makes a verbal gaffe at the NATO summit and calls Volodymyr Zelensky “Vladimir”

On July 12, Joe Biden made remarks at the 2023 NATO summit that happened in Vilnius, Lithuania, but made another noticeable verbal gaffe while doing so. During a press conference, the 80-year-old politician seemed to address the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, but accidentally said the Russian president's name instead.

“Vladimir and I … I shouldn’t be so familiar. Mr. Zelensky and I talked about the kind of guarantees we could make in the meantime when I was in Ukraine and when we met in other places."

As per the official White House transcript, Biden never addressed Zelensky as "Vladimir" and incorrectly wrote it as “Volodymyr.”

Moreover, President Joe Biden delivered a statement on Wednesday. He expressed his firm belief that the joint declaration of support for Ukraine, issued by the G7 countries, will serve as a firm pledge to the commitment of the world's largest democracies towards Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

During the inaugural meeting, Joe Biden said the US and its allies are making long-term commitments to Ukraine for security assistance. He emphasized the unwavering commitment of the Western countries to stand firmly by Ukraine's side.

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the recent NATO summit, describing it as a "meaningful success for Ukraine." He further emphasized that this achievement would pave the way for new security opportunities for his country, which is currently in conflict with Russia.

This came a day after the NATO members supported the Ukrainian president, but did not give a definitive timeframe as to when the country can join the alliance.