Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden held a solo news conference on Thursday after a NATO summit in Washington, looking for to reassure voters involved about his potential to serve and Democratic officers involved about his potential to defeat former President Donald Trump within the 2024 election.
Biden’s feedback included some false and deceptive claims. Here’s a reality examine.
Biden performed down a gaffe he made at an occasion earlier on Thursday wherein he had mistakenly launched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” before correcting himself moments later. Biden mentioned on the press convention: “I mentioned, ‘No, I’m sorry, Zelensky.’ After which I added 5 different names.”
Information First: Biden’s final declare was false. He didn’t utter “5 different names” after he corrected the Putin-Zelensky mix-up. In truth, after Biden corrected himself, Zelensky mentioned he’s “higher” than Putin, Biden agreed, after which Zelensky delivered remarks as Biden stood silently beside him.
Biden spoke of a have to “tempo” himself in his actions. He mentioned, “The following debate, I’m not going to be touring 15 time zones per week earlier than. Anyway. That’s what it was about.”
Information First: That is deceptive. Biden didn’t journey overseas “per week earlier than” the June 27 CNN presidential debate wherein he carried out poorly. In truth, he returned to the US from Europe 12 days before that debate, on June 15.
Biden attended a fundraiser in Los Angeles on June 15, returned to the White Home on June 16 and went to Camp David on June 20 for intensive debate preparations. He stayed at Camp David till the day of the CNN presidential debate towards Trump, which was held in Atlanta.
Biden, criticizing Trump’s place on the NATO navy alliance, mentioned, “I believe he mentioned at certainly one of his rallies, don’t maintain me to this, lately, the place, ‘NATO – I simply realized about NATO,’ or one thing to that impact. Overseas coverage’s by no means been his sturdy level.”
Information First: Biden’s description of Trump’s remark was certainly inaccurate. Trump didn’t say at a latest rally that “I simply realized about NATO.” Slightly, Trump mentioned on the rally that he had not recognized what NATO was, “an excessive amount of,” prior to attending his first alliance summit as president in 2017.
Trump said at his Tuesday rally in Florida: “I didn’t wish to be obnoxious as a result of I felt, you recognize, it was the primary time I’d ever accomplished this. I went; I didn’t even know what the hell NATO was an excessive amount of earlier than, nevertheless it didn’t take me lengthy to determine it out. Like about two minutes. And the very first thing I discovered was they weren’t paying.” (Trump continued by making his usual false claims about NATO’s funding construction.)
Biden is entitled to criticize Trump for this occupation of prior ignorance about NATO or for his continued inaccuracy about NATO, however Biden’s feedback made it sound like Trump had acknowledged he had simply realized about NATO now somewhat than seven years in the past.
Hamas and the West Financial institution
Speaking concerning the warfare between Israel and Hamas, Biden mentioned Thursday, “There’s a rising dissatisfaction in, on the West Financial institution, from the Palestinians, about Hamas. Hamas is just not well-liked now.”
Information First: The restricted out there public opinion polling suggests the declare that “Hamas is just not well-liked now” within the West Financial institution is just not true – and that Hamas’ reputation has increased there since its assault on Israel final October.
A poll taken in late May and early June by a well known pollster based mostly within the West Financial institution, the Palestinian Heart for Coverage and Survey Analysis, discovered that 73% of respondents within the West Financial institution supported the October assault by Hamas, that 82% of respondents within the West Financial institution had been glad with Hamas’ efficiency within the present warfare with Israel and that 71% of respondents within the West Financial institution most popular Hamas to regulate the Gaza Strip after the warfare. Hamas scored higher on all of these questions among the many respondents within the West Financial institution than it did among the many respondents in Gaza.
As well as, Hamas had the help of about half the West Financial institution respondents who mentioned they might vote in hypothetical parliamentary elections – double its help degree in a ballot 9 months prior and greater than double West Financial institution respondents’ help within the newest ballot for extra average rival Fatah.
When a reporter instructed Biden that Reuters had reported Thursday that the management of the United Auto Employees union was involved about Biden’s potential to win the election, Biden responded, “UAW simply endorsed me, however go forward.”
Information First: Biden’s declare that the UAW “simply” endorsed him is deceptive at finest. The UAW truly announced its endorsement of Biden on January 24, greater than 5 months in the past.
In different phrases, Biden tried to dismiss the reported post-debate concerns of UAW president Shawn Fain by insinuating that Fain’s union had made a latest resolution to again Biden. However the endorsement truly got here lengthy earlier than the controversy and the ensuing disaster of confidence amongst a few of Biden’s pre-debate backers.
Biden spoke of how he had inspired Israeli leaders to not “occupy anyplace” and as a substitute goal the Hamas terrorists who attacked their nation, avoiding the errors the US made after it was attacked on September 11, 2001. Biden mentioned, “You could recall, I nonetheless get criticized for it, however I used to be completely against the occupation and attempting to unite Afghanistan. As soon as we bought bin Laden,” in 2011, “we must always’ve moved on, as a result of it was not in our – nobody’s ever going to unite that nation.”
Information First: Biden’s declare that he was “completely against the occupation” of Afghanistan is deceptive at finest. Within the early years of the warfare, Biden, then a US senator for Delaware, was a vocal public supporter of the US having a sustained navy presence in Afghanistan and fascinating in in depth “nation-building” there – and he explicitly rejected the thought of a slim navy mission concentrating on terrorists. Biden did finally change his thoughts, becoming a sharp internal critic of the warfare as President Barack Obama’s vice chairman starting in 2009; he opposed Obama’s “surge” of additional troops into the nation. However Biden has repeatedly suggested he all the time opposed the thought of a US navy presence and nation-constructing efforts in Afghanistan, and that’s incorrect.
In an October 2001 speech in the Senate, Biden outlined a broad agenda for a “long-term answer” in Afghanistan, which he mentioned would contain every part from “the restoration of girls’s rights” to “constructing primary infrastructure” to the “creation of secular faculties” to the institution of a “crop substitution program for narcotics” – and mentioned that it will be unwise to easily go after terrorists. He mentioned, “We can not repeat the errors of the previous. If we expect solely within the quick time period, solely of getting bin Laden and the Taliban – which we should do, however that’s not all we should do – we’re simply begging for larger bother down the road.”
In a speech in February 2002, after the Taliban regime was ousted, Biden said, “Prefer it or not, our management position should embrace troopers on the bottom, for my part. If others step ahead and we aren’t wanted on the bottom, positive. However no matter it takes, we’re going to have to make certain that there’s a strong safety drive not solely in Kabul however in each main municipal heart in that nation if there’s any prospect of transitioning to a authorities that’s steady two years down the highway, has a snowball’s probability in hell of succeeding, and is ready to transition right into a navy and a police drive that could be a primary necessity for governance there.”
He continued: “Historical past goes to guage us very harshly, I consider, if we permit the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate as a result of we’re afraid of the phrase ‘nation-building’ or we don’t keep the course.”
And in comments on Afghanistan at a February 2003 assembly of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, Biden mentioned, “In some elements of this [President George W. Bush] administration, ‘nation-building’ is a grimy phrase. However the various to nation-building is chaos – a chaos that churns out bloodthirsty warlords, drug traffickers, and terrorists. We’ve seen it occur in Afghanistan earlier than, and we’re watching it occur in Afghanistan right now.”