WASHINGTON (TND) — President Joe Biden's first public appearance following his announcement that he would run for re-election in 2024 came with a story that, when fact-checked, turned out to be false.
Biden has been known to tell stories that mangle the truth or, in some cases, appear to disregard it altogether.
During the Trump administration, The Washington Post created a new category within it's "Pinocchio" scale, essentially a way to rank the severity of mistruths spouted by high-profile public figures.
That category, dubbed "the Bottomless Pinocchio," which accounts "for false or misleading statements repeated so often that they became a form of propaganda," was given to Biden just ahead of last year's midterm elections.
But the constant criticism hasn't appeared to keep Biden on his toes, as he continues to stretch the facts during various addresses to the American people.
On Tuesday, speaking from the Washington Hilton near the White House to the North America's Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference, Biden touched how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help provide resources to build hundreds of thousands of electric vehicle charging stations. The president insisted the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) labor union would be the ones building them, earning him a resounding applause.
Biden then launched into his mistruth about his grandfather, Joseph H. Biden, in what appeared to be an attempt to connect his "grand pop's" alleged time as a union worker to his support for unions in general.
"And, by the way, when you do [build the EV charging stations] — think about it this way, my grand-pop who I never met, he died in the same hospital I was born in two weeks before I was born, and my grand-pop was, as they say in Maryland was from Balmore," Biden said. "He worked for the American Oil Company and his job was to open up new gas stations around the country back in the late 20's and 30's. And guess what, people didn't want those gas stations because they didn't want all those how many thousands of gallons of oil, gasoline sitting below the surface in my neighborhood. They were worried about it. But once that gas station was built what happens? You end up having a drug store, you end up having a coffee shop, it generates growth."
But Biden's claim about being born in the same hospital his grandfather passed away in just two weeks prior is inaccurate, according to an obituary written when President Biden's grandfather passed in 1941.
It is a well-known fact that Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and based on an obituary, his late grandfather died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
According to a new NBC News poll, 70% of Americans believe Biden should not run for president a second time.
A new website called "Fact Check Biden" has been set up by Republicans following the president's announcement that he would be running again.
"For the truth about Biden’s terrible record and destructive agenda, sign up at http://FactCheckBiden.com," Tommy Pigott, rapid response director for the Republican National Convention, tweeted. "Americans can't afford to let Biden 'finish the job!'"