Photo used to criticize Biden for not wearing a mask is from 2019, fact checkers say
A photo used to slam Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for not wearing a mask on an airplane was taken before the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sunday, Richard Grenell, a Republican and former acting director of national intelligence, tweeted out the photo showing Biden talking to his traveling press secretary on a plane, along with a photo of Biden wearing a mask outside.
“@JoeBiden doesn’t wear a mask on a plane — but wears one OUTSIDE?!” Grenell tweeted, calling the former vice president a “phony.”
Conservative radio host Mark Levin retweeted the post and called Biden a “fraud.”
But the photo on the plane was taken in 2019, before COVID-19 was a concern, according to Snopes and PolitiFact.
It was shot last November by Biden campaign photographer Adam Schultz and was featured in an October 2020 Vogue magazine profile of Biden’s traveling press secretary, Remi Yamamoto, PolitiFact reported.
“Yamamoto and Biden huddle on a flight to South Carolina in November 2019,” the photo caption reads in Vogue.
The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in China in December 2019, according to the World Health Organization. The first confirmed case in the United States was in late January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC started encouraging the use of masks in early April.
Snopes and PolitiFact both rated Grenell’s tweet “false.”
This isn’t the first time an old photo of Biden has been used to accuse him of not wearing a mask in public.
Photos of Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris taken at a rally in March were shared in August with the caption: “Not a mask in sight. Tell me again why we are being forced to wear one,” according to Snopes.
President Donald Trump has previously mocked Joe Biden for his use of face masks.
“I wear masks when needed. I don’t wear masks like him,” Trump said during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29. “Every time you see him he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
The president has repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of masks, which health experts say help slow the spread of COVID-19 when used with other measures.
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Photo used to criticize Biden for not wearing a mask is from 2019, fact checkers say."
