Here’s a look at several incorrect and misleading claims that Biden has made during these events and interviews in the past few weeks.
In a virtual fundraiser on June 23 with former President Barack Obama, Biden claimed that Trump “wants to cut money for the post office so they can’t deliver ballots by mail.”
Facts First: While Trump has said He will not approve additional funds for the U.S. Postal Service unless they agree to certain changes, primarily an increase in package prices, there is no evidence that his intention is to prevent the USPS from delivering the ballots by mail. Factcheck.org reported The Biden campaign did not provide any instance of Trump specifically saying he wants to impede the service’s ability to deliver ballots.
Trump’s antipathy towards voting by mail is not a secret, as he has repeatedly falsely claimed that he is fraught with fraud and could lead to the most rigged election in history. He has also previously criticized the USPS, but not in regards to the upcoming presidential elections.
Some, such as Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, are concerned that if the Postal Service is unable to receive the loan from the Treasury Department, the resulting delays and operational disruptions could affect voting by mail. However, a USPS spokesperson told CNN that the “current financial situation of the Postal Service will have no impact on its ability to deliver ballots by mail this year.”
Republican tax cut
While criticizing the 2017 Republican tax cut during a June 11 roundtable in Philadelphia on the reopening of the economy, Biden said the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the tax cut did not increase the growth of the economy.
“Even places like the Heritage Foundation said it didn’t grow the economy,” Biden said of the Tax and Job Reduction Act.
Facts First: While economists and experts disagree on the overall effect of the tax cut, Biden is wrong because the Heritage Foundation “said it did not grow the economy.”
When asked about Biden’s claim, the Heritage Foundation pointed out to us tweets from senior policy analyst and tax analyst Adam Michel that rejected almost exactly the same Biden claim in 2019. At the time, Michel tweeted, “I think I’ve basically written something every week for the past year + that says the tax cuts are working. “
In response to Biden’s most recent complaint, Michel tweeted, “This again?”
Heritage also pointed out a tweet to us after Biden’s comment from the Executive Director of Heritage Action, a sister organization and Heritage Foundation lobbyist, Jessica Anderson, who said the “false claims … have been discredited over and over again” and He added that “the country experienced an increase in salary growth, business investment and employment thanks to the law.”
Blocking Judges
During a June 10 town hall with the National Association for the Advancement of People of Color, Biden was asked about senior judges who resigned to allow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to induce new judges. through the Senate. In response, Biden suggested that Senate Democrats should somehow prevent that from happening.
“At this point, if you do, I am going to urge Democrats in the United States Senate to block the ability to vote on those judges,” Biden said. “We only have 140 days to go. We won’t let that happen.”
Facts First: It’s unclear how Biden would propose preventing Senate Republicans from passing judges because Republicans only need a simple majority – which they currently have – to approve judges.
In 2013, Senate Democrats, under the leadership of Harry Reid, eliminated the filibuster for many presidential nominations. Senate Republicans now only need 51 votes to break a filibuster and approve a judicial nomination. They currently have 53 seats.
Hispanic unemployment
During a speech on the economy on June 5, Biden twice claimed that Hispanic unemployment had risen in that day’s jobs report.
Condemning President Donald Trump’s comments about George Floyd, Biden said, “The fact that he did it the day black unemployment increased, Hispanic unemployment increased, black youth unemployment skyrocketed tells him everything he needs to know. about this man. “
Later Biden said: “Latino [unemployment] it jumped to over 37%. “
Facts First: The works report showed that Hispanic unemployment decreased, did not increase.
A reading of Biden’s speech shows that by referring to the “jump to over 37%,” Biden was supposed to say “Latino youth unemployment,” which would have been correct.
“Latino youth unemployment rose to more than 37 percent,” says the reading. However, Biden incorrectly said that Hispanic unemployment had increased twice during the speech.
According to the report, in May Hispanic or Latino unemployment fell from 16.7% to 15.1%, while the Hispanic youth unemployment rate increased from 35.8% to 37.4%.
NAACP endorsement
In an interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God on May 22, Biden falsely claimed that the NAACP has endorsed him “every time I’ve run.”
Facts First: The NAACP does not endorse candidates.
While Biden has a lifetime membership in the organization and recently participated in a NAACP city council, the organization has a policy of not endorsing candidates.
Following Biden’s comment, the organization released a statement “to clarify that the NAACP is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse candidates for political office at any level.”
white supremacy
In a June 16 Instagram interview with actress and musician Keke Palmer, Biden claimed that Trump has not recognized the problem of white supremacy.
“You know the president has talked about systematic racism,” Palmer said, “but when asked … he simply says that the answer is a better economy, that’s what will solve it. But I really don’t think it’s the answer.”
Palmer asked Biden what his plan was to eradicate white supremacy in the United States.
“Well, first of all, I don’t even think Trump has recognized white supremacy,” said Biden. “He doesn’t even recognize it,” added Biden later.
Facts First: Trump has condemned white supremacy, but only recently said there is “probably something” to systemic racism in the United States.
After the mass shootings in Ohio and Texas in August 2019, Trump in prepared remarks said that “in one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hatred does not it takes place in the United States. ”
Two days after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which Heather Heyer was assassinated, Trump issued a statement condemning racism, specifically “the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hateful groups that are disgusting of everything we want as Americans. ”
This statement came just days after Trump suggested there were “very good people on both sides” of the rally and protest, a statement for which Biden and others have harshly criticized him.
Trump has also been criticized for not being as forceful or persistent in criticizing white supremacist violence as he has done about terrorism by Islamic extremists or crime by undocumented immigrants, and he himself has used racist rhetoric.
Still, it’s not true that he hasn’t recognized the problem of white supremacy at all.
Several days after the Instagram interview with Biden, Trump addressed systemic racism, possibly for the first time in his Presidency, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on June 17.
“I would like to think that there is no” systemic racism, “Trump told the newspaper,” but unfortunately, there is probably something. I would also say that it is much less than it used to be. “
CDC Employees in China
During a May 14 interview on MSNBC, Biden said the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China dropped from 44 to 4 members.
“We had over 44, if I’m not mistaken, CDC people in China, in China to observe what was going on,” Biden said. “The president brought the vast majority of them home, I think he left just four in their place.”
Facts First: Biden is right that under Trump, the CDC staff in China declined, but he exaggerated that decline. It was reduced to 14 members, not 4.
Biden covered both numbers with “If I’m not mistaken” and “I think”: The actual number of staff in China in 2017 was 47, with 8 US assignees and 39 local employees. As of December 2019, that number was 14, with 3 U.S. assigns and 11 local workers.
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