Washington Post fact-checker busts several of Biden's go-to personal stories: 'Tradition of embellishing'

The Washington Post’s chief fact-checker Glenn Kessler took exception to several stories President Biden has repeatedly told about his life to connect with audiences in a piece Thursday.

Kessler went through several recurring anecdotes that Biden has shared with crowds over the years and detailed how many of them were embellished or just plain not true. He declared, "But throughout his career… Biden’s propensity to exaggerate or embellish tales about his life led to doubts about his truthfulness."

Kessler analyzed Biden’s recent recounting of a past fire at his house almost destroying his Corvette, anecdotes about being him arrested for standing up during the civil rights era, and a story about the circumstances that led him to be accepting of same-sex relationships.

Kessler stated that each of these folksy stories from Biden are part of his "tradition of embellishing his personal tales in ways that cannot be verified or are directly refuted by contemporary accounts."

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The fact-checker began with Biden’s most recent exaggerated story. He wrote, "At least six times as president, mostly recently in comments to Hurricane Idalia victims Wednesday, Biden has exaggerated the extent of a fire that occurred at his house in 2004."

In those retellings, Kessler noted how Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, had claimed "a couple firefighters" almost died, how his 1967 Corvette was nearly destroyed, and that a "significant portion" of his house burned.

The fact-checker corrected the record, saying, "The contemporary news accounts in the Wilmington News Journal and The Associated Press are much less dramatic."

Citing the outlets, he added, "’Biden’s house on Barley Mill Road was reported hit by lightning at 8:16 a.m., emergency officials said,’ the News Journal reported. ‘There were no injuries and firefighters kept the fire contained to one room.’

"Cranston Heights Fire Co. Chief George Lamborn told the newspaper the flames did not spread from the kitchen. ‘Luckily, we got it pretty early. The fire was under control in 20 minutes.’"

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Kessler then mentioned Biden’s oft-used anecdote about his conversation with an Amtrak conductor. He wrote, "At least 10 times as president, most recently during an Aug. 15 speech in Milwaukee, Biden has told a heartwarming but implausible story about an Amtrak conductor named Angelo Negri who congratulated him for traveling more on Amtrak than he had on Air Force planes as vice president."

As Biden has told the story, Negri congratulated the then-vice president for traveling 2 million miles on Amtrak trains, almost double the amount he has traveled on Air Force One. 

Kessler corrected this, saying, "But it’s not possible this conversation took place as Biden describes… Biden did not pass the 1.2 million-mile mark until 2016; Negri retired from Amtrak in 1993, 16 years before Biden became vice president. Negri died in 2014, two years before Biden claims they had this conversation."

The fact-checker also poked holes in one of Biden’s go-to gay rights stories. Kessler stated, "Three times this year — and at least seven times since 2014 — Biden has told a version, most recently on Aug. 10, of a story about words his father supposedly spoke after a teenage Biden saw two well-dressed men in suits kiss each other in downtown Wilmington in the early 1960s."

However, the author noted, "Biden depicts a scene that would have been unusual six decades ago. He describes this exchange with his father usually as taking place in 1961. But back then, gay men generally did not kiss in public. Many people regarded homosexuality as deviant." 

"Moreover," Kessler added, "Biden’s story has evolved over time. In 2014, in a New York Times article on his evolution on same-sex marriage, he was the father in the story, speaking to one of his sons."

The journalist threw cold water on Biden’s civil rights stories as well. He reported, "Biden had a tangential role in the civil rights movement — The Fact Checker determined that he participated in one walkout at a restaurant and picketed a segregated movie theater — and yet sometimes he has suggested he was arrested for advocating on behalf of Black people."

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Kessler mentioned Biden’s claim that "he was arrested for standing on the porch with a Black couple who were subject to demonstrations" and stated, "But when we investigated, the story did not add up. There was a protest of a Black couple who had purchased a house in an all-White area, but it was a neighborhood many miles from the Biden home."

The fact-checker also noted that Biden’s assertion that he was arrested while visiting Nelson Mandela "was false," adding, "he amended his statement to say he was ‘stopped’ at the airport while traveling with a congressional delegation — though others on the delegation said that did not happen."

Still, the White House championed Biden's honesty. Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates told the Post, "President Biden has brought honesty and integrity back to the Oval Office. Like he promised, he gives the American people the truth right from the shoulder and takes pride in being straight with the country about his agenda and his values; including by sharing life experiences that have shaped his outlook and that hard-working people relate to."

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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