Social media users shared a video shot from a vehicle in which some soldiers of the National Guard showed off the road while Biden’s car drove past them. Users claim that national guard Biden has ‘turned his back’, suggesting that this action is an exhibition to show that they reject the president. However, their positioning is a standard protocol for these types of duties.
Examples can be seen here, here and here .
Some comments on the messages include: “thank you troops he does not deserve your salute … thank you for your service”, “They do not recognize an illegitimate president! Large workforce ”and“ You can not respect someone who stole an election ”.
The video was first posted at Inauguration Day at 10:32 by ABC reporter Ines de La Cuetara here and it’s endorsed: “The view from Biden’s freeway as it heads to the Capitol”.
More than 25,000 national troops have been deployed to protect the U.S. Capitol from possible security concerns ahead of Biden’s inauguration (here).
The unprecedented precautions ensured that the new US President and Vice President Kamala Harris released the office from incidents during a ceremony outside the US Capitol, two weeks after the day after a mob attacked the building in a failed attempt to reverse that Congress confirms their victory (here).
A video showing the inauguration of motorsport for President Donald J. Trump here in January 2017 looks similar, with some looking away. A video of President Barack Obama’s inauguration motorway here also shows various guards looking away from the road.
Nahaku McFadden, media operations chief of the National Guard Bureau of Public Affairs, confirmed in an email to Reuters that the video shows a routine protocol for these types of duties.
“These national guards were on duty to protect the president from possible threats,” she said. “Some people look out for the safety of everyone.”
VERDICT
Untrue. The National Guards looked out of the way to protect against possible threats.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.