How was President Joe Biden received when he stopped at a gas station in Pennsylvania? Fox News host Sean Hannity said the president got the cold shoulder.
“Biden tries copying Trump by visiting a gas station in PA – instead he’s ignored by virtually everyone there,” Hannity said in an April 18 Facebook post. The post included a video of Biden at Sheetz, a gas station and convenience store chain.
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Biden’s public calendar April 17 shows he gave a speech at the United Steelworkers’ headquarters in Pittsburgh. On his return to the airport, he made an unscheduled stop at a Sheetz branch in Moon Township, a Pittsburgh suburb.
Biden stopped at Sheetz with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, where they picked up sandwiches for construction workers at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Videos of the gas station stop, including the one Hannity posted, do not show the president being ignored. He is seen engaging with the people inside the store.
In Hannity’s video, the president made playful faces with some children and then walked to a counter where he met Sheetz workers. Biden chatted with the staff members, who had grouped to see him, before going behind the counter to take photos with them — all smiling.
Another video by CBS News shows the scene before the president met the children, which is not shown in Hannity’s version. In it, Biden was hugged and greeted by a man who appeared happy about the presidential encounter and was eager to take a photo with him. Gainey took the photo on the man’s phone. The clip Hannity shared starts right after that moment.  The videos do not show the president being ignored by patrons or store employees.
PolitiFact reached out to Sean Hannity for a comment but received no response.
Former president Donald Trump, days earlier, visited a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta where he ordered 30 milkshakes and some chicken for customers.
When it comes to Biden’s Sheetz stop, Hannity’s clip does not corroborate his own claim about Biden being ignored, and footage from other media outlets shows the president was welcomed by and interacted with staff and customers.
We rate the claim that Biden was “ignored by virtually everyone” at a gas station Pants on Fire!
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
