Fact check: Biden falsely claims he was at Ground Zero 'the next day' after 9/11 | CNN Politics
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In a speech to service members and first responders on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Joe Biden falsely claimed that he was at Ground Zero the day after the Twin Towers fell in Manhattan.

He did it three times in a single speech last month – falsely claiming to have witnessed a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022 (he actually visited the site more than six hours after the collapse), falsely claiming his grandfather had died just days prior to his own birth at the same hospital (his paternal grandfather died more than a year prior in another state), and again repeating a long-debunked false story about a supposed conversation with an Amtrak conductor who was deceased at the time the story would have had to take place.

In 2021 and 2022, he falsely claimed to have been arrested during a civil rights protest (he had previously said merely that an officer had taken him home from a protest), falsely claimed he “used to drive an 18-wheeler” (the White House said he once had a job driving a different vehicle, a school bus), falsely claimed to have visited the Pittsburgh synagogue where worshippers were killed in a 2018 mass shooting (he had spoken to its rabbi by phone but had not gone), falsely claimed to have visited Iraq and Afghanistan as president (he made repeated visits as a senator and vice president but not as president), told a false story involving a late relative and the Purple Heart, and falsely described his interactions decades ago with late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

  • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
    4·
    10 months ago

    I’m going to punch some holes in that… the fact check is making the assumption that Negri was still working as a conductor. That’s not what Biden said. He said he was a “senior guy at [possibly should’ve been or in the way some folks speak, on] Amtrack.”

    Not concerned about whether he recalls it as 2012-2013 or “in this one case” 2015.

    Not concerned that his mother would’ve already been dead, the story about how he was riding to see her under my interpretation is not related to the event with Ang.

    deceased by the time Biden logged 1.2 million miles on Air Force Two.

    It’s plausible that Biden logged 1.2 million train miles as vice president by early 2016, based on accounts around the time by Biden and David Lienemann, the vice president’s official photographer.

    I’m generally all for AP but this is a mess. It also ignores the calculation being slightly wrong/made with different assumptions by the train drivers/Joe misremembering or misstating the exact calculation.

    This is an exceptionally weak fact check that seems to interpret what Biden was saying in a very specific way and then asserts there’s no way that specific interpretation happened… rather than questioning the interpretation and elements of the situation.

    • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.worldOP
      13·
      10 months ago

      https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/30/remarks-by-president-biden-at-an-event-marking-amtraks-50th-anniversary/

      When I became Vice President, one of the Capitol Hill newspapers estimated that I had taken more than 7,000 round trips on Amtrak over my career. I think that’s an exaggeration. And I’m going to rely on — there’s two conductors that Mr. Weaver will remember. r. One of them was a guy named Angelo Negri. And Angelo — there was an article — my — I guess, my fourth or fifth year as President — Vice President, saying, “Biden travels 1,000 — 1,300,000 miles on Air Force One [Two].”

      And I used to — the Secret Service didn’t like it, but I used to like to take the train home. My mom was sick, and I’d come — try to come home almost every weekend as Vice President to see her. And I was getting on the train, and Angelo Negri came up and he goes, “Joey, baby!” And he grabbed my cheek, started to squeeze it like he always did.

      And I thought that he was going to get shot. (Laughs.) I’m serious. And I said, “No, no. He’s a friend.” He said, “Joey, what’s the big deal? 1,200,000 — 300,000 miles on Air Force Two. You know how many miles you traveled on Amtrak?” I said, “No, Ang, I don’t know.”

      And he gave me the calculation, and he said, “you traveled 1,515,000 miles on Amtrak.” So the fact is, I’d probably take Ang’s word before I took the word of what the article said.

      This would’ve been after already getting beaten up over inaccuracies.

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
        61·
        10 months ago

        Jesus fucking Christ, this is the hill you are dying on? This is such a nothing burger of a confabulated story. He’s telling a story for the moral of it, not for the exact accuracy of a court testimony. He took the train a lot. He knew one specific conductor. Whether he knew the conductor while he was taking the train to see his mom is immaterial to the point of the story.

        This is beige suit level of idiocy.

        • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.worldOP
          11·
          10 months ago

          Point is he can’t get basic retelling of a situation correct, even with a staff and after his versions getting debunked he “swear to God, true story” his claims. You clearly don’t care, which is fine, you’re free to move along…

      • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        This would’ve been after already getting beaten up over inaccuracies.

        I think he probably just didn’t care. As the other guy said, the exact details of the story weren’t his priority. I’m 28, even I as a younger man have variations in my stories when I tell them, especially off the cuff…

        and Biden has a reputation for going off script. See the old “scandal” where he as VP tells Obama “this is a big fucking deal” as the mic accidentally catches him.

        This seems like one of those “off script” moments. I mean do you really think he couldn’t get this story down with precision if he cared? And if he or his writers are so worried about it, do you really think they’d leave it in the script over and over again?

        He’s old, I’ll give you that, but come on. The machine that wants to paint this guy as incompetent is relentless.

        He’s fine, a half hour with no script in hand, no prompter, etc last Monday https://youtu.be/ybC9TfYRxP8