Biden reiterates son Beau’s death to Marines stationed in Japan ‘in Iraq’

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To Stephen Nelson and Kaitlyn Doornbos

May 22, 2023 | 4:24 PM

A video obtained exclusively by The Post shows President Biden telling U.S. forces in Japan that his son Beau died in the Iraq War. same false claim at least twice in the last year.

“My son was a major in the U.S. Army.

The business trip reporters who have confronted. Repeated access problem While interviewing America’s oldest president, he was too far away to hear what he was saying.

The White House Press Office did not release official records, so the mistake almost escaped public view.

Mr Biden told Mr Bo in October last year: ‘I lost my life in Iraq’ And the following month, Iraq claimed: “This is where my son died.”

In fact, the president’s son died of a brain tumor in 2015 at Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Such a blatant factual error poses a political liability for Mr. Biden, who is seeking a second term in 2024.

a Washington Post ABC Poll A poll released earlier this month found just 32% of Americans believed Mr. Biden had the mental acuity needed to run for president.

Beau Biden died at the age of 46 after being raised to carry on his father’s political legacy.

He served as Delaware’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015, and the president often says: my son thought I had the potential to be elected to the highest office in the country.

In other public statements, Mr. Biden blamed his son’s fatal cancer for a “burning pit” where military waste was disposed of during Mr. Bo’s nearly year-long deployment to Iraq in 2008 and 2009. said.

Biden stopped in Iwakuni on his way to the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

The president also repeated other gaffes at the conference, including referring to South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, who hosted the conference. April 26th State Dinnercalled Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “President” and repeatedly used the wrong title.

Biden is seeking a second four-year term, which would make him 86 when he completes his eight-year term. The frontrunner for the Republican nomination is 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, but he faces challenges from many of the leading Republican candidates.

The White House Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, but has implemented severe restrictions on access to journalists during Biden’s tenure.

In February, for example, Mr. Biden’s aides left almost the entire traveling press behind during a surprise visit to Kiev, Ukraine, despite informing the invading Russian military of their plans.

White House aides An unprecedented pre-screening reporter system He was allowed to attend indoor events with the president, but he also refused to clarify the selection criteria for senior officials at the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Journalists in most seats in the press conference room last year signed a letter of protest. call practice ‘It goes against the concept of press freedom’ still remains Journalists suspect he is trying to frame the range of questions posed to the president.

Biden presided over fewer press conferences and allowed far less interviews than its recent predecessors.

new york times I got it last month that[s]Since taking office, he has never given an interview to a reporter from a major newspaper. ”

Mr. Biden’s aides counter that they usually have shorter Q&A sessions than Mr. Trump, but Mr. Biden is often much shorter.

This isn’t the first time a potentially embarrassing exchange by Biden has gone unrecorded in a pool report or official record.

Biden told Israeli players last year that he once tried to get an NFL walk-on tryout, but the exact words were never recorded, muting backlash.

In November 2021, he mocked a question from the Post in Rose Garden about whether he was concerned about possible corruption in his son Hunter’s art sales.

“You must be joking,” said Mr. Biden, his response unclear for days until the footage of the journalist was released.

Concerns about Mr. Biden’s mental fitness to serve as president rose when he asked the question in September. “Where’s Jackie?” And in August, despite publicly mourning his car accident and calling his family to express condolences, he sought out the late Rep. Jackie Warorski (R., Indiana) at an event.

Defenders of Mr. Biden argue that they believe Mr. Biden is simply slippery and that is part of his political appeal.

His factually erroneous claims often coincide with Biden trying to establish a personal connection with his audience.

In December, Biden announced that his uncle Frank Biden got a purple heart An award was given for his actions in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, but there is no proof of award and important details make this story virtually impossible.

Biden said in October that firefighters were dying while fighting a fire in his kitchen in 2004, and the local fire department described the incident as follows: relatively unimportant For trained professionals.

In May, Biden said at his Naval Academy commencement ceremony: Appointed to the Military Academy in 1965 By the late Senator J. Caleb Boggs (Republican, Delaware).Search the Boggs Archives failed to provide evidence Scheduled.

In January 2022, Biden told students at a historically black college in Atlanta that he had been arrested during the civil rights movement. there is no evidence of that either.

Biden, then a senator, withdrew from the 1988 Democratic presidential primary after being exposed for exaggerating his educational background and plagiarizing campaign speeches and law school papers.

During his election campaign, Biden borrowed British politician Neil Kinnock’s family history — Biden changed details to make inaccurate claims in speech “My ancestors… worked in a coal mine in northeastern Pennsylvania, came home 12 hours later and played football for four hours.” Unlike Kinnock, Biden’s ancestors didn’t mine coal.

Biden also claimed In 1987, he “graduated from college with three degrees,” was named an “Outstanding Student of the Political Science Department,” and “admitted to law school on a full scholarship. The only student in my class “I was on a full scholarship,” he said. And I was “in the top half” of the class.

None of these claims were true.