Watch: ‘Where’s Biden?’ shout confused press as president misses G20 family photo

C-SPAN

The US president missed the final group shot at the G20 summit with video showing confused photographers shouting: “Where’s Biden?”

A White House spokesman said the family photo was taken early, resulting in Joe Biden missing the shot.

The US president was not the only world leader who was absent, with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau arriving late, as did Giorgia Meloni, the Italian premier.

It should have been a memorable shot, with global leaders lined up in front of Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf mountain.

However, the closing formalities descended into confusion with the three prominent participants absent, with one confused photographer shouting “where’s Biden?”.

One photographer was heard saying that the leaders were being asked to wait for Mr Biden, before exclaiming “oh my god!”

The president was later seen standing among the palm trees as the leaders dispersed.

It was the second time in a matter of days that the US president had arrived late for a “family photo”, having done so at the APEC summit.

One US official, speaking anonymously, blamed “logistical issues” for Mr Biden, who was performing one of his last official functions, not appearing in the shot.

The picture was also taken early, the official added.

It is understood that Mr Biden did not deliberately skip the photo because of the presence of Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who was standing in for Vladimir Putin.

It remained unclear whether the organisers of the summit will try to corral the leaders together for a re-shoot — which would be a first in the history of the climate summits.

The official added Mr Biden did not use an open ramp because of security concerns.