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.

    • FinnFooted@lemmy.worldEnglish
      171·
      10 months ago

      I’m sound of mind and I’m on the 1000th time of swapping Tuesday and Thursday in sentencess. Every time. Brains are weird.

      • z500@lemmy.world
        2·
        10 months ago

        9 times out of 10 if I try to name one of either Daniel Radcliffe or Elijah Wood, I’ll name the wrong one by accident.

    • idiomaddict@feddit.de
      111·
      10 months ago

      Well yeah, if you’re certain that the name you have is right, you’ll repeat it. He’s old and has been famously misspeaking his whole career.

      • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.worldOP
        36·
        10 months ago

        There is yet another issue with the story. In both the April version and an October 2020 version – and less directly in the Tuesday version – Biden at least hinted that the encounter with Negri occurred when he was commuting to Delaware because his mother was dying. But Biden’s mother, Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan Biden, died in early 2010, more than five years before her son hit the million-miles-flown mark.

        https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/30/politics/fact-check-biden-amtrak-angelo-negri-miles-traveled/index.html

        • idiomaddict@feddit.de
          5·
          10 months ago

          I noticed that reference in the other piece, but I don’t see why they think that from the quote they used. I used to commute a lot when my mom was dying =/= I only commuted when my mom was dying.

          I just don’t see this as more likely to be made up than to have a misremembered detail. Do you think Biden invented it fully?

          • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.worldOP
            13·
            10 months ago

            I don’t know man, it’s as bizarre as my dog staring at me when dropping a deuce. Why do it 5 times, and then boldly (after having it debunked after the third) “swear to God true story” on top?

            • idiomaddict@feddit.de
              4·
              10 months ago

              This is what happens when politicians are allowed stay in office through old age. He probably thinks it’s true and it probably is 95% true, but the details got fuzzy

            • Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world
              1·
              10 months ago

              Context is everything man…even if EVERYTHING you point out was a deliberate lie, entirely made up, for personal and political gain, it still pales in comparison to the dangerous lies being told daily by EITHER of the other 2 guys he’s likely to run against.

              I’d almost rather they were all lies in this instance because keeping lies straight is a lot more cognitive burden than misremembering is…at least that would be evidence the lights were still on

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
      3·
      10 months ago

      I shared a small office every day for 2 years with a guy whose name I can’t remember. I went to his wedding and traveled to New Mexico to meet up with him and his family once. I still can’t remember his name half the time.

      I mix up my girlfriend’s friends’ names ALL the time, and I’ve hung out with them on a regular basis for the last 5 years.

      I’m only in my 40s, while Biden is in his 80s. I give leeway to the memories of people that old. Whether we should be electing people that old is a different argument (he’s the same age as Trump), though.