September 30, 2020
Correct The Record: Biden Makes 33 False Or Misleading Claims At The Debate
BIDEN: “I’m not opposed to the Justice.”
FACT: Biden and Harris have both publicly opposed Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, despite glowing reviews from the legal community and her colleagues.
Biden put out a statement in opposition to Judge Barrett’s nomination.
Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, tweeted that she strongly opposed Judge Barrett’s nomination.
BIDEN: “There’s a hundred million people with preexisting conditions and [their insurance will] be taken away as well.”
FACT: Biden’s claim has been called “misleading,” and President Trump has said he will always protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Just last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order making it the official policy of the federal government to protect those with pre-existing conditions.
BIDEN: “So the thing that should happen is we should wait. We should wait and see what the outcome of this election is, because that is the only way the American people get to express their view, who they elect as president and who they elect as Vice President.”
FACT: History is on the side of filling the Supreme Court vacancy now, and Joe Biden previously said the President had an obligation to name a nominee, even in an election year.
There have been 29 prior Supreme Court vacancies in American history during a Presidential election year, and in all cases, the President nominated a Justice.
17 out of 19 times the Senate has confirmed the President’s Supreme Court nominee in an election year when the President’s party controls the Senate as it does today.
In 2016, Biden said that he supported confirming a Supreme Court Justice in an election year “even a few months before a presidential election.”
Biden in 2016: “In my view, [Senators] are required to give the nominee a hearing and a vote.”
BIDEN: “We expand Obamacare and we increase it. We do not wipe any and, one of the big debates we had, with 23 of my colleagues trying to win the nomination that I won, were saying Biden wanted to allow people to have private insurance still. They can. They do. They will.”
FACT: Biden’s public option will crowd out private health insurance plans.
Biden’s government-backed “public option” will crowd out private health insurance plans, destroying the health care that 180 million Americans rely on.
One of the architects of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, said a public option would crowd out private insurance.
In 2009, Barack Obama admitted that a “public option” could crowd out private insurance.
BIDEN: “He’s been promising a health care plan since he got elected. He has none, like almost everything else he talks about. He does not have a plan. He doesn’t have a plan.”
FACT: President Trump has a health care plan.
On September 24, President Trump unveiled his America First Health Care plan, outlining the key policies and reforms the President supports, including protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions.
In August, President Trump released his second term agenda, which includes health care as a central focus.
TRUMP: “You agreed with Bernie Sanders to the manifesto and now you’re disavowing it.” BIDEN: “There is no manifesto.”
FACT: There is a manifesto, and Biden’s campaign worked with Sanders' associates to write it.
In July, the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force released a 118-page document filled with far-left, radical policies the Biden campaign has embraced.
The task force included socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Castro-sympathizer Rep. Karen Bass.
BIDEN: “What did he do? He went in, and he, we were insisting that the Chinese, the people we had on the ground in China should be able to go to Wuhan and determine for themselves how dangerous this was. He didn’t even ask [Chinese President] Xi to do that.”
FACT: The Trump Administration first tried to get American officials into China in early January; Biden didn’t call for sending experts into China until February 25, 50 days later.
This often repeated claim by Biden has been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers.
The Washington Post fact checker gave Biden’s claim three Pinocchios.
CDC Director Robert Redfield offered to send CDC experts to China as early as January 4, and the issue was raised multiple times by Administration officials in the weeks after.
President Trump personally raised the issue in a call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Biden did not call on China to admit U.S. experts until February 25, after U.S. officials were already on the ground.
WALLACE: “But you and Senator Harris are saying you can't trust a scientist.” BIDEN: “No, you can trust a scientist. She didn't say that.” WALLACE: “She said they would be ‘muzzled and suppressed.’” BIDEN: “Well, that’s what he’s going to try and do.”
FACT: President Trump has listened to scientists and public health experts every step of the way.
Dr. Fauci has said on multiple occasions that he has never been muzzled.
FactCheck.org: “Biden went too far when he claimed that Trump ‘hasn’t allowed his scientists to speak’ about the coronavirus.”
TRUMP: “But he wants to shut it [the economy] down.” BIDEN: “No.”
FACT: Biden and his campaign have admitted that he would potentially shut down the economy again.
In August, Joe Biden openly said that he was prepared to shut down the country again.
Biden campaign spokesperson Symone Sanders admitted that Biden would shut down the economy again.
Biden surrogate Senator Chris Coons admitted Biden would shut down the economy again.
WALLACE: “The president says it's a V-shaped recovery, you say it's a K-shaped recovery. What's the difference?” BIDEN: “The difference is millionaires and billionaires like him in the middle of the Covid crisis have done very well.”
FACT: President Trump is leading an unprecedented economic recovery that is benefitting all Americans.
The economy has added back 10.6 million jobs over the last four months, half of all the jobs lost due to the pandemic.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in August and saw the second-largest one month decrease in U.S. history.
Retail sales have increased four months in a row, with consumer spending already reaching pre-pandemic levels.
Consumer confidence in September posted the biggest gain in 17 years.
Weekly jobless claims continue a downward trend, beating expectations and falling to their lowest level since mid-March.
American manufacturing has grown for four straight months.
The stock market has rebounded, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both recently achieving new record highs.
BIDEN: “He’s been totally irresponsible the way in which he has handled the social distancing and people wearing mask, basically encouraging them not to.”
FACT: President Trump has strongly advocated that Americans wear masks, and he has worn one himself many times.
In March, President Trump recommended that people could use a scarf as a mask.
In April, President Trump announced that the CDC was recommending wearing face masks.
In July, President Trump recommended that all Americans wear masks “whether they like the mask or not.”
In July, President Trump tweeted a photo of himself wearing a mask and said wearing masks is patriotic.
BIDEN: “[The Trump Administration has] done nothing to help small businesses. Nothing.”
FACT: President Trump’s Paycheck Protection Program was undeniably successful in keeping Americans employed and small businesses afloat during the pandemic.
The Paycheck Protection Program has provided $525 billion to over 5.2 million U.S. businesses, protecting more than 51 million jobs.
President Trump ensured that $30 billion of the Paycheck Protection Program was reserved for small financial institutions serving minority communities.
BIDEN: “He pays less tax than a schoolteacher … This guy paid a total of $750 in taxes.””
FACT: President Trump has paid millions of dollars in taxes in 2016 and 2017.
President Trump paid millions in taxes during years that The New York Times falsely claimed that President Trump only paid $750 in federal taxes.
BIDEN: “The economy is busted.”
FACT: Before the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump built the greatest economy in American history, and he is working to bring it back.
Through the first three years of the Trump Administration, the U.S. economy saw nearly 7.3 million new jobs, higher growth, and a record setting stock market.
Workers saw higher wages, lower taxes, record low unemployment rates, and a thriving labor market.
6.6 million Americans were lifted out of poverty and millions were lifted off food stamps.
In just four months, the economy has already recovered over 10.6 million jobs, nearly half the jobs lost due to the pandemic.
BIDEN: “We inherited the worst recession short of a depression in American history. I was asked to bring it back. We were able to have an economic recovery that created the jobs you're talking about. We handed him a booming economy.”
FACT: Biden oversaw the slowest recovery since the Great Depression, leaving behind millions of hard-working Americans.
Joe Biden’s economic recovery was a once-in a century failure: he’s even said so himself.
Biden himself has admitted that many Americans “were left behind” during his recovery.
BIDEN: “My economic plan would create 7 million more jobs than his in four years”
FACT: Biden’s economic plans would destroy jobs and shrink the economy.
According to the Tax Foundation, Biden’s tax plan would destroy 585,000 full-time jobs.
Biden’s tax plan would shrink the economy by 1.5 percent.
According to the Penn-Wharton Budget Model, Biden’s tax plan would slow economic growth.
BIDEN: “My son did nothing wrong in Burisma.”
FACT: Multiple State Department officials expressed alarm about Hunter Biden’s financial dealings at the time, concerned over the clear conflict-of-interest.
BIDEN: “[President Trump] said there were very fine people on both sides.”
FACT: This is an often-repeated Biden lie; President Trump specifically condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville.
Fact checkers have debunked Biden’s claim and said that President Trump condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
CNN’s Jake Tapper admitted that President Trump did in fact condemn Neo-Nazis.
Fox News’ Brit Hume has debunked the “very fine people” lie.
TRUMP: “[Hunter Biden] got $3.5 million dollars.” BIDEN: “That is not true.”
FACT: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee recently released a report saying that Hunter Biden’s firm did in fact receive $3.5 million from the wife of the Mayor of Moscow.
Biden’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Thornton, received a $3.5 million wire transfer in 2014 from Russian billionaire Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow.
BIDEN: “Even before COVID, manufacturing went in the hole.”
FACT: Half a million manufacturing jobs were created during the first three years of the Trump Administration.
The economy added 510,000 new manufacturing jobs between President Trump’s Election and February 2020.
In 2018, the U.S. added 264,000 new manufacturing jobs, the best one-year total in 30 years.
The U.S. has added more than 13,000 factories under President Trump.
During the Obama-Biden Administration, the United states lost 192,000 manufacturing jobs.
During the Trump Administration’s first 37 months, manufacturing production grew at a rate 11 times greater than the last 37 months under the Obama-Biden Administration.
TRUMP: “I think it's a party issue. You can bring in a couple of examples but when you look at Chicago, what's going on in Chicago where 53 people were shot and eight died … If you look at New York where it's going up like nobody has ever seen anything. Numbers are going up 100, 150, 200% crime.” BIDEN: “Republican cities.”
FACT: A vast majority of the most violent cities in the U.S. are cities run by Democrats.
17 out of the top 20 most violent cities in the United States are Democratic-run cities, including Chicago and New York.
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BIDEN: “His own former spokesperson said, ‘you know riots and chaos and violence help his cause’ … Kellyanne Conway said that.”
FACT: Biden misquoted and misconstrued comments from former Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway.
Conway was responding to a question about something Biden supporter Pete Buttigieg said, falsely blaming President Trump for the violence occurring in Democrat-run cities.
In response, Conway said “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.”
This is not the first time Biden has misquoted Conway.
BIDEN: “Look, what I support is the police having the opportunity to deal with the problems they face. I am totally opposed to defunding the police officers.”
FACT: As Vice President, Joe Biden oversaw cuts in federal funding for state and local law enforcement, breaking a pledge to increase funding.
Biden said “yes, absolutely” when asked if he would redirect funding away from police to other government programs like housing.
Kamala Harris recently said a Biden-Harris Administration would “reimagine” public safety, which is the same language used by left-wing “defund the police” activists.
The Biden-Sanders unity platform’s proposed destruction of qualified immunity for police would financially eviscerate local police departments even further.
Biden cut police funding when he was Vice President.
Despite candidate-Biden’s promise in 2008 to fully fund the COPS program, the Obama-Biden Administration slashed COPS funding from $1.55 billion to $222 million.
At the time, police groups protested the Obama-Biden cuts, calling the funding reductions “simply irresponsible.”
Federal funding for state and local law enforcement fell during the Obama-Biden Administration.
BIDEN: “The fact is that I’ve gone head to head with Putin.”
FACT: Biden has a record of being weak on Russia.
The Russia "reset," which Biden was the first Obama official to publicly propose, was a failure.
The Obama-Biden Administration refused requests by Ukraine for lethal weapons to use against Russian aggression in Crimea.
Russian election interference occurred on Biden’s watch.
In 2012, Biden mocked the idea that “Russia is still our major adversary,” saying Russia was “working closely with us.”
TRUMP: “…for cocaine use. And he didn’t have a job until you became Vice President.” BIDEN: “None of that is true.”
FACT: As was widely reported, in 2014 Hunter Biden was discharged from the military for cocaine use.
USA Today: “Biden, who had no prior military experience, was one of six officers commissioned nationally into the Navy Reserve public affairs division … Biden, 44, was discharged from the Navy Reserve in February.”
The Wall Street Journal: “Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was discharged from the Navy Reserve this year after testing positive for cocaine.”
BIDEN: “The way you talk about the military, the way you talk about them being losers and being ah- and just being suckers.”
FACT: At least 14 officials who were on the trip to France with President Trump have gone on the record to refute the anonymous sources and allegations in The Atlantic article.
Sarah Sanders, former White House Press Secretary: “The Atlantic story on @realDonaldTrump is total BS. I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion - this never happened.”
Hogan Gidley, former White House Deputy Press Secretary: “These are disgusting, grotesque, reprehensible lies. I was there in Paris and the President never said those things.”
Dan Scavino, White House Deputy Chief Of Staff for Communications: “I was with POTUS in France, with Sarah, and have been at his side throughout it all. Complete lies by ‘anonymous sources’…”
Jordan Karem, former Personal Aide to President Trump: “This is not even close to being factually accurate. plain and simple, it just never happened.”
Karem: “Again, this is 100% false. I was next to @POTUS the whole day! The President was greatly disappointed when told we couldn’t fly there. He was incredibly eager to honor our Fallen Heroes.”
Johnny DeStefano, former Counselor to the President: “I was on this trip. The Atlantic bit is not true. Period.”
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor: “‘I didn’t hear that,’ Mr. Bolton said in an interview. ‘I’m not saying he didn’t say them later in the day or another time but I was there for that discussion.’”
Stephen Miller, White House Senior Adviser: The accusation is a “despicable lie … The president deeply wanted to attend the memorial event in question and was deeply displeased by the bad weather call.”
Tony Ornato, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and then-Head of the Secret Service's Presidential Protective Detail has said the story is false.
Derek Lyons, Staff Secretary and Counselor to the President: “I was with the President the morning after the scheduled visit. He was extremely disappointed that arrangements could not be made to get him to the site, and that the trip had been cancelled.”
Dan Walsh, former White House Deputy Chief Of Staff: “I can attest to the fact that there was a bad weather call in France, and that the helicopters were unable to safely make the flight.”
Zach Fuentes, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff: “I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather.”
First Lady Melania Trump: “@TheAtlantic story is not true. It has become a very dangerous time when anonymous sources are believed above all else, & no one knows their motivation. This is not journalism - It is activism. And it is a disservice to the people of our great nation.”
Jamie McCourt, U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco: “In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either. Let me add, he was devastated to not be able to go to the cemetery at Belleau Wood. In fact, the next day, he attended and spoke at the ceremony in Suresnes in the pouring rain.”
Major General William Matz (ret.), Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission: “I was the host of the event discussed by the false and despicable article published in The Atlantic magazine on 3 September. On 10 November 2018, I was at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery awaiting the arrival of President Trump. As a former Army infantryman who has flown on many helicopters, I knew that morning the weather was bad and the ceiling was too low for a safe landing that day. When the President’s visit was appropriately canceled due to weather, I received word also that he was upset he would not be able to make the wreath-laying visit and to pay his respect to the 2300 fallen soldiers and Marines interred there. … Those who know President Trump know that the anonymous smears peddled by The Atlantic have no basis in fact or reality, and do a terrible disservice to journalism and to our veterans, living and deceased.”
Additionally, The Atlantic’s reporting has been refuted by a White House email and Navy documents that directly show a “bad weather call” was the reason for the canceled presidential trip to Aisne-Marne cemetery in 2018.
WALLACE: “You propose $2 trillion in green jobs, you talk about new limits, not abolishing, but new limits on fracking. Ending the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity by 2035 and zero net emission of greenhouse gases by 2050. The President says a lot of these things would tank the economy and cost millions of jobs.” BIDEN: “He is absolutely wrong.”
FACT: Biden’s energy plan would cost trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Biden admitted he would willingly “sacrifice” “hundreds of thousands” of fossil fuel jobs in pursuit of his anti-energy agenda.
Biden has made clear – he wants to “end” fossil fuels, saying they would have “no place” in a Biden presidency.
Biden has said he would “love to make sure we can’t use any oil or gas, period” and that he would “make sure” fossil fuels and fracking are “eliminated.”
Over 10.3 million American jobs are supported by the oil and gas industry.
Biden has vowed that there would be no place for fracking in a Biden Administration, saying it would be “eliminated.”
Biden’s plan to ban new energy permitting on federal lands alone would threaten an estimated 268,000 jobs.
Completely banning fracking would destroy anywhere from 1 million to 19 million jobs.
Biden has proposed completely eliminating oil, gas, and coal from the U.S. power grid by 2035.
Prior estimates show eliminating oil, gas, and coal from the U.S. energy grid would cost anywhere from $4.5 trillion to $5.7 trillion, with an average cost of $35,000 per household.
BIDEN: “That is not my plan. The Green New Deal is not my plan.”
FACT: Joe Biden has embraced the Green New Deal in all but name.
Biden’s own climate plan on his website cites the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”
The Washington Post: “Joe Biden is embracing the framework of the Green New Deal in his bid for the White House…”
Inside Climate News: “In embracing it, he proclaimed his support for the central principles … of the Green New Deal.”
TRUMP: “What he did is he said, he called the military ‘stupid bastards.’” BIDEN: “That is not true.”
FACT: In March 2016, Biden called service members “stupid bastards” during a speech at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.
After airmen didn’t applaud at one of Biden’s lines, he insulted them by saying: “Clap for that you stupid bastards.”
BIDEN: “You don’t have to solicit the ballot, it’s sent you—it’s sent to your home. What we are saying is, they are saying it has to be postmarked by Election Day. If it doesn’t get in until the seventh, eighth, ninth, it still should be counted. He’s just afraid of counting the votes because of the outcome.”
FACT: Biden is wrong that states with mass vote by mail require postmarks; Pennsylvania's Supreme Court explicitly said ballots, even those without postmarks, will be assumed to be valid.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that ballots received up to three days after Election Day, even if they’re not postmarked, must be counted.
In Wisconsin, ballots that were not postmarked in time for an April 7 ballot-measure election were counted in some counties.
BIDEN: “[Judge Amy Coney Barrett] thinks that the Affordable Care Act is not constitutional.”
FACT: Judge Amy Coney Barrett has not expressed a view about the Constitutionality of Obamacare or about the current case pending before the Supreme Court.
BIDEN: “We have a higher deficit with China now than we did before.”
FACT: The trade deficit with China is falling and “fell sharply” in 2019.
BIDEN: “The fact of the matter is violent crime went down 17%, 15%, in our administration.”
FACT: Fact checkers have said this claim is “overstated,” and violent crime rose by more than 4 percent during the last two years Biden was Vice President.
Meanwhile, the FBI recently announced that violent crime has fallen during the first three years of the Trump Administration.
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https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/correct-the-record-fact-biden-makes-33-false-or-misleading-claims-at-the-debate