President Joe Biden had an opportunity to test drive the new electric Ford F-150 Lightning during a visit to a manufacturing plant in Dearborn, Michigan on Wednesday.
The president got behind the wheel of the truck, alongside a Secret Service member, to take it on a short drive.
"This sucker is quick," Biden said after pulling up beside reporters on the test track.
Biden also said that the vehicle manages to go from 0-60 mph in around 4.4 seconds—information he was perhaps not meant to reveal.
"I should be quiet," Biden to a Ford representative off-screen.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said that the drive was not pre-planned and only arranged once Biden finished his speech at the plant.
"At the end of his speech, he kinda turned to everyone, he goes, 'You know I'm a car guy. And I want to drive this truck.' Everyone politely laughed. Because presidents don't drive vehicles,'" Farley told the Detroit Free Press.
"He went on the test track and, I mean, he was going really fast.
"The whole press corps was there, probably 50 journalists. He pulled up in front of all the journalists. He looked like Top Gun. He had his Ray-Bans on, in this F-150 Lightning."
The Claim
According to a report on The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing website known to publish conspiracy theories and other falsehoods, Biden was not actually driving the Ford F-150 Lightning.
The report says that it was actually the Secret Service member next to Biden who was driving the vehicle via a second steering wheel.
The Gateway Pundit claims Biden was put in another model, not the F-150, which had two steering wheels to make it "look like he's in charge."
The entirety of the article is based on a blurry photograph and slowed-down video which they claim shows a hand on a second steering wheel next to Biden on the passenger side.
The Facts
Despite The Gateway Pundit's claims, further video and photos from the scene show that there is no second steering wheel on the dash on the vehicle Biden drives.
In a statement to Jalopnik, Mike Levine, Ford North America Product Communications Manager, who drove that very truck to the track, said: "There was no other set of controls."
The Ruling
False
There is no evidence that there was a second steering wheel in the car than Biden drove, with the claims mainly being made by a right-wing conspiracy theorist website.
