U.S. President Joe Biden didn't make derogatory comment about NATO secretary general's wife at summit

What's the claim?

Several users on X (formerly known as Twitter) have shared a video of U.S. President Joe Biden's remarks at the NATO summit on July 9, 2024. The posts carry an approximately 15-second clip from his speech, with the captions claiming that Biden made a derogatory sexual comment about NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's wife. Archived links to the posts are here and here.

Screenshots of X posts claiming Biden used derogatory language about NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's wife. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, these claims are false. Biden said, "I realized as I was talking to your wife," and spoke about Stoltenberg's commitment to NATO before presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

What did we find?

As the branding on the viral video clearly shows, it has been edited from a longer version of the speech at the NATO Summit aired by Fox News. We found the video uploaded by the network on their site on July 9, 2024. 

Screenshot of the Fox News video. (Source: Fox News/Modified by Logically Facts)

The part of the video used in the viral clips features around the 12:20 timestamp. It captures Biden talking about Stoltenberg guiding the alliance through one of its "most consequential periods in history." He then says the sentence that social media users have highlighted and used to claim he made the derogatory comment.

On listening to the audio at this timestamp carefully, it is clear that Biden said, "I realized as I was talking to your wife, I personally asked you to extend your service. Forgive me. And you put your own plans on hold." He laughs in the middle of the sentence, right after he says, "I realized I was," before he goes back to saying, "was talking to your wife." This break in his speech has been used to misinterpret what Biden was saying.

We also found the full video of Biden's speech on YouTube, uploaded by NBC News (archived here) on July 10, 2024. The video was titled "Special report: Biden speaks to world leaders at annual NATO summit." The part of the speech used in the claim begins at the 15:08 timestamp of this video, and the fact that Biden said that he "was talking to" Stoltenburg's wife is corroborated by the transcript of the YouTube video. 

A slowed-down version of the viral video also clearly shows Biden saying, "I was talking to your wife." The word "talking" is audible.

Joe Biden by Prabhanu Das

The video in the claim played at 0.7x speed, where Biden's words are clear. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The White House also released the transcript of the entire speech. We checked this document and noted that the part of Biden's speech used in the claim reads, "Mr. Secretary, you've guided this alliance through one of the most consequential periods in its history. I realize I — as I was talking to your wife — I personally asked you to extend your service. (Laughs.) Forgive me. (Laughter.) And you put your own plans on hold." 

This further corroborates the fact that Biden was referring to a conversation he had with Stoltenberg's wife and not making sexual or derogatory remarks about her.

Logically Facts has also debunked claims that Biden, in the same speech at the NATO summit, used offensive language to refer to Stoltenberg. 

The verdict

This claim is false as Joe Biden did not make derogatory comments about the NATO secretary general's wife. The video clip's audio is being misinterpreted. In reality, Biden said, "I was talking to your wife."