Did biden approve trumps parade 4 months before
Executive summary
Joe Biden’s administration approved a permit in June 2024 for a modest U.S. Army 250th‑birthday festival on the National Mall; the large-scale military parade that occurred on June 14, 2025 was the subject of a separate, later plan and permit filed after Donald Trump took office, according to multiple fact‑checks and reporting (Snopes; AP/Forbes coverage) [1][2]. Reporting and Army planning documents show the festival under Biden was much smaller than the parade that happened under Trump, and that parade planning accelerated in early 2025 [1][3][4].
1. Timeline: two separate planning tracks, not one continuous approval
The Army began planning a 250th‑birthday celebration in 2023 and had a festival permit application filed in June 2024 under the Biden administration that described a modest event on the Mall; a distinct permit for a large military parade was filed in March 2025 after Trump’s inauguration, according to the National Park Service spokesperson quoted in a Snopes fact check and subsequent reporting [1][4]. Multiple outlets describe the 2024 filing as for a festival and the 2025 filing as for an expanded parade, showing two separate actions rather than Biden “approving Trump’s parade” [1][3].
2. What Biden’s approval actually covered
Snopes concludes the June 2024 application approved under Biden was for a modest festival celebrating the Army’s 250th birthday — not the large‑scale parade that later took place — and that both events occurred separately on the Army’s anniversary [1]. Available sources do not mention Biden approving a permit specifically for the large parade that unfolded in June 2025; instead they document separate festival planning in 2024 [1].
3. How and when the parade expanded in scope
Reporting from the AP, Forbes and The Guardian shows that the Army’s festival plans were under discussion in 2024, and that in early‑to‑mid 2025 officials prepared much larger parade plans — planning documents dated in April 2025 and a permit filing in March 2025 are cited — after Trump returned to the White House and expressed interest in a large military spectacle [2][3][4]. The Guardian and AP noted there had been no formal approval at one point while plans were still evolving, underscoring the parade was a later development [3].
4. Costs, scale and controversies: why the distinction matters
Coverage quantified the parade’s scale and estimated costs — reporting placed expected spending between roughly $25 million and $45 million and described elements such as thousands of troops, vehicles, and aircraft under consideration — and public polling showed many Americans considered the parade a poor use of funds [4][5][6]. Those debates hinge on whether an event was simply a festival planned earlier or a newly authorized parade; sources indicate the parade’s expanded scope and costs are tied to 2025 planning, not the more modest 2024 festival permit [4][1].
5. Competing narratives and political framing
Proponents framed the event as an Army anniversary celebration and a long‑sought spectacle, with administration officials saying the parade marked the 250th birthday rather than the president’s birthday; critics framed it as politicization of the military and a vanity project [2][7][4]. Fact‑checkers like Snopes and contemporary reporting stress the technical distinction: Biden approved a festival permit in 2024, while the parade permit and expanded plans emerged under Trump in 2025 [1][3].
6. Limitations and what sources do not say
Available reporting documents festival planning in 2024 and parade planning in 2025 and cites permit filings and Army documents; however, certain granular administrative records (full permit texts, every internal email) are not reproduced in the articles cited here, so assertions are based on public reporting and spokesperson statements rather than every underlying document [1][3]. Available sources do not mention Biden personally authorizing the large parade held in June 2025 [1].
Bottom line: multiple fact‑checks and news investigations show Biden’s team approved a modest Army‑anniversary festival in mid‑2024, but the large military parade that occurred on June 14, 2025 followed separate planning and permitting under the Trump administration in early 2025 [1][3][4].