The White House on Monday (local time) criticised Republicans for spreading videos appearing to show President Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline, saying the images were deceptively cropped and manipulated.

“This tells you everything we need to know about how desperate Republicans are,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, calling the clip a “cheap fake.”

Several media outlets, including the New York Post and an official Republican social media account, have shared several short videos of the 81-year-old president in recent days that appear to be fairly sober.

In one video, Biden is seen wandering away from his fellow world leaders while watching a skydiving demonstration during the G-7 summit in Italy last week.

But Jean-Pierre said the footage was deceptively edited and instead showed Biden trying to give a thumbs-up to the parachutists.

“It was widely fact-checked, including by conservative media,” he said at a media briefing, adding, “If you play that tape a little bit more you’ll find out what was going on.”

Earlier in the week, NBC also refuted the claim, posting online footage taken from another angle by its cameras that showed Biden interacting with the parachutists just a few feet away.

Another widely shared clip was a close-up shot of Biden standing still while world leaders danced close to him during a concert at the White House, which detractors said reflected confusion.

“The president was standing there listening to music and he didn’t dance. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that not dancing was a health problem,” Jean-Pierre said of the video.

And over the weekend, the New York Post again shared a video showing Biden losing his cool onstage during a fundraising event in California before former President Barack Obama gestures him to exit.

Andrew Bates, another White House spokesman, said on X that Biden was waiting on stage to receive applause from his supporters.

And Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to Obama, posted a link to the Post’s article on X, writing, “That didn’t happen.”

Biden’s main rival in November’s election, Republican Donald Trump, has made Biden’s advancing age a central issue of his campaign, seeking to position himself as a dynamic alternative – even though at 78 he is just three years younger than him.

Whoever wins the vote will set a new age record.

Biden is already the oldest person to hold the office and will remain so, while if Trump wins, he will become the oldest person to be sworn in.