When a group of world leaders gathered for a “Family Picture” with Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain in the background at the G-20 summit in Brazil on Monday, President Joe Biden was nowhere to be found.
Video posted to X by C-SPAN showed the world leaders posing for a photo on a platform for the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. As the leaders began to depart, someone could be heard in the video noting how there were shouts for them to wait for Biden, but they kept walking away.
President Biden and other world leaders miss the “Family Picture” at #G20Summit. pic.twitter.com/wqA0zaLuC3
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 18, 2024
Mockery on social media ensued as clips of Biden missing the photo went viral.
“His entire term in a post,” quipped radio host Dana Loesch. “He walked off into the Amazon yesterday and never returned,” said political commentator Stephen L. Miller, who was referencing how Biden departed into the Amazon rainforest after delivering remarks on Sunday.
Biden, who just authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, takes no questions and retreats back into the Amazon rainforest pic.twitter.com/xy7xr6qYPZ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 17, 2024
Those who did pose for the picture included Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was there instead of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
🌎 Today (18), after the launch of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and the G20 Leaders’Summit first session in Rio de Janeiro, G20 representatives gather for the official Global Alliance photo. pic.twitter.com/CTFzFtEVD4
— G20 Brasil (@g20org) November 18, 2024
USA Today correspondent Francesca Chambers, who was doing the White House press pool report for the event, reported that Biden had arrived late and that he was chatting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as the other leaders were departing.
“Due to logistical issues, they took the photo early before all the leaders arrived,” a senior official said, according to Chambers. She also reported that this official, who was not identified, claimed Biden’s absence was not about avoiding a photo with Lavrov.
Bloomberg reported that Trudeau and Meloni missed the photo in addition to Biden. The outlet also noted that a U.S. official “blamed” logistics and said the photo was taken early while Brazilian organizers insisted the absent leaders were late.
The 81-year-old Biden is wrapping up his time in the White House after his vice president, Kamala Harris, lost to President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election earlier this month. Biden had been running for a second term but dropped out in July after a fumbling debate performance against Trump while facing pressure from allies who raised concerns about his age, mental acuity, and electability.
