World leaders ignore bumbling Joe Biden, 81, as he misses G20 photo… and is found walking among palm trees
President Joe Biden was stunningly left out of a group photo of world leaders gathered at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday after he arrived late – and they chose not to wait.
Signaling that the world no longer bows to the leader of its most powerful country, the photo went off without him as other leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi, clutched each other and grinned.
The event was played live on local Brazilian television as a culmination of the work on a new Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, championed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
It was also captured on C-Span, as reporters there to commemorate the photo-op were surprised that it went ahead without 81-year-old Biden.
The leaders lined up in front of a picturesque backdrop of Rio’s internationally famous coastline, with the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.
Such “family photo” events are a staple of international summits and intended to emphasize unity despite clashes over trade and territorial invasions and threats of war over deadly weapons.
A TV producer who captured the moment in real time provided breathless commentary as it all unfolded.
‘Where was he? They say to wait for Biden, guys,” she said in a video shared on social media as Xi and other leaders walked away. ‘Oh my god!’ she said.
President Joe Biden was late for a “family photo” of leaders attending the G20 summit in Rio. The assembled leaders grinned at the photo and left before Biden arrived
‘Do you see him on the left? To the left of the palm tree,” she exclaims. “Oh my god… He’s behind the palm tree now.”
Brazilian media covering the event quickly zoomed in to show the late Biden, dressed in a blue suit and aviator glasses, approaching.
He arrived late with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arriving shortly after the photo session ended.
But it was too late. The picture was done and the assembled leaders would say no more “cheese” for the outgoing president.
Some leaders gathered there, including China’s Xi Jinping, have a long history of ignoring American statements.
White House officials did not respond to questions from DailyMail.com about why Biden was late, on a trip without a presidential news conference or less formal interactions with the press by the outgoing president.
It may not have been an intended slight, but it came as the lame duck president heads into his final two months in office, with his successor vowing to tear up some of his hard-won achievements.
It was set up to draw attention to the fight against world hunger in a country where poverty is rampant around its metropolises. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva organized the initiative
Other leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alabanese, grinned during the group photo
It featured a beautiful backdrop of Rio de Janeiro
Days ago, at the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, Biden was about five minutes late for the family photo, which showed leaders wearing brown scarves made from alpaca wool, a proud export of the country.
Biden was on the back of an earlier APEC photo, but aides said this was for alphabetical reasons.
The family photo is dictated in alphabetical order – although during his only APEC appearance in Vietnam in 2017, Trump was given a front row seat in the middle, next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. queuing for a similar ‘family photo’ taken during the 2017 NATO summit in Brussels.
It comes on a trip to South America that began with Biden sidestepping a series of questions about newly elected President Donald Trump while his successor made a series of extraordinary announcements about people he wants to install in his Cabinet, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will receive an official state visit at both the APEC summit in Lima and the G20 here in Rio. In Peru, that earned him an elaborate welcome ceremony that far surpassed Biden’s.
Xi sat in the front row for the Rio photo.
It was a trip that also saw Biden become the first sitting US president to visit the rainforest. He announced new funds to preserve precious forests and a new International Day of Nature Conservation.
But his team has been repeatedly confronted with questions about whether his actions will be reversed by the new Trump administration. Trump has called climate change “a hoax.”