Fact check: Biden’s NATO press conference

Washington
CNN
 — 

President Joe Biden held a solo information convention on Thursday after a NATO summit in Washington, in search of to reassure voters involved about his skill to serve and Democratic officers involved about his skill to defeat former President Donald Trump within the 2024 election.

Biden’s feedback included some false and deceptive claims. Here’s a truth examine.

Biden performed down a gaffe he made at an occasion earlier on Thursday through which he had mistakenly launched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” earlier than 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 must “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 through which he carried out poorly. In truth, he returned to the US from Europe 12 days earlier than 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 feel he mentioned at considered 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. International 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.” Fairly, Trump mentioned on the rally that he had not identified what NATO was, “an excessive amount of,” prior to attending his first alliance summit as president in 2017. 

Trump mentioned at his Tuesday rally in Florida: “I didn’t need to be obnoxious as a result of I felt, , it was the primary time I’d ever carried out this. I went; I didn’t even know what the hell NATO was an excessive amount of earlier than, however 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 common false claims about NATO’s funding construction.)

Biden is entitled to criticize Trump for this career 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 moderately 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 isn’t well-liked now.”

Information First: The restricted out there public opinion polling suggests the declare that “Hamas isn’t well-liked now” within the West Financial institution isn’t true – and that Hamas’ reputation has elevated there since its assault on Israel final October. 

A ballot taken in late Might and early June by a widely known pollster primarily based within the West Financial institution, the Palestinian Middle 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 happy with Hamas’ efficiency within the present warfare with Israel and that 71% of respondents within the West Financial institution most popular Hamas to manage 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 assist of about half the West Financial institution respondents who mentioned they might vote in hypothetical parliamentary elections – double its assist degree in a ballot 9 months prior and greater than double West Financial institution respondents’ assist 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 skill 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 introduced 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 issues of UAW president Shawn Fain by insinuating that Fain’s union had made a latest determination to again Biden. However the endorsement truly got here lengthy earlier than the talk 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, “Chances are you’ll recall, I nonetheless get criticized for it, however I used to be completely against the occupation and making an attempt to unite Afghanistan. As soon as we acquired 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 interesting 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, changing into a sharp inside critic of the warfare as President Barack Obama’s vp starting in 2009; he opposed Obama’s “surge” of extra troops into the nation. However Biden has repeatedly steered 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 within the Senate, Biden outlined a broad agenda for a “long-term answer” in Afghanistan, which he mentioned would contain all the things 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 might be unwise to easily go after terrorists. He mentioned, “We can’t repeat the errors of the previous. If we expect solely within the brief 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 better bother down the road.”

In a speech in February 2002, after the Taliban regime was ousted, Biden mentioned, “Prefer it or not, our management position should embrace troopers on the bottom, in my opinion. If others step ahead and we aren’t wanted on the bottom, high-quality. However no matter it takes, we’re going to have to make sure 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 secure two years down the street, 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 evaluate us very harshly, I consider, if we enable the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate as a result of we’re scared of the phrase ‘nation-building’ or we don’t keep the course.”

And in feedback on Afghanistan at a February 2003 assembly of the Senate International Relations Committee, Biden mentioned, “In some elements of this [President George W. Bush] administration, ‘nation-building’ is a unclean phrase. However the different 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 as we speak.”