Do Freedom of Information Act door logs reveal that former President Joe Biden didn’t enter the Oval Office after the 2024 election? No, evidence shows that’s a dubious claim.
An April 21 X post showing an image of Biden looking down reads, “Newly released FOIA door logs show that former President Joe Biden didn’t enter the Oval Office once after the 2024 election. He was president for another 75 days.”
The post with over 249,000 views as of April 22 said that during that time former President Barack Obama, billionaire philanthropist George Soros, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ran the country.
Other users on Facebook, Threads and X also shared the claim.
However, we found multiple instances of Biden performing executive duties and being in the Oval Office after the Nov. 5, 2024 election.
After President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Biden gave a brief speech Nov. 7, 2024 at the White House Rose Garden calling for unity and a peaceful transition of power.
Former President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
On Nov. 12, 2024, Biden met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the Oval Office.
Biden meets with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
On Nov. 13, 2024, Biden met with Trump at the Oval Office; Biden congratulated him and spoke about a smooth transition.
Biden also made other announcements from the White House. On Nov. 26, 2024, he announced an Israel-Hezbollah cease fire from the Rose Garden, and provided an update on the Syrian civil war on Dec. 8, 2024 at the White House’s Roosevelt Room.
He spoke from the Oval Office several other times in January 2025: during the Medal of Valor Ceremony Jan. 3, and on Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, when he spoke about the California wildfires. Lastly, he gave a live farewell address to the nation Jan. 15, from the Oval Office.
The X account that shared the news of the supposed release of the FOIA door logs provides no details about these logs, such as who requested them or where they are published. We also found no credible news reports about these logs.
Semafor politics reporter David Weigel noted in response to the X post that “White House records aren’t subject to FOIA.”
We found a 1993 FOIA memo on White House requests from the Justice Department that said “the parts of the Executive Office of the President that are known as the ‘White House Office’ are not subject to the FOIA; certain other parts of the Executive Office of the President are.”
The X account reposted and shared over 100 posts just April 22; including claims about Rep. Illhan Omar, D-Minn., having “$30 million added to her network by accident,” viral videos of animals, or AI-generated content and posts supporting the passing of the Save America Act.
Facebook posts sharing the claim about Biden called users to click on a link to the “full story.” There are clues that the site, called “New and Tips,” is not legitimate. The story about Biden has a byline that says “Charlotte Liam,” but there’s no information or picture about this person once you click on the name.
The story itself doesn’t provide legitimate sources and it attributes its information only to the “FOIA logs” and an unnamed “spokesman.”
The website also doesn’t have an “About” page or any other page besides the main one. The articles’ publication month aren’t written in English, Google Translate shows that for the Biden article, “April” is written in Vietnamese. Other parts of the website also have Vietnamese text, such as the search bar, which says, “Tìm kiếm,” which means “search.”
Social media posts claiming that Biden wasn’t at the Oval Office after the 20224 election are contradicted by multiple videos that show Biden there. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
This story originally appeared on PolitiFact
