'He's a serial liar': Joe Biden blasted for reiterating unsubstantiated claim that he 'got arrested’ defending civil rights in the 60s

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK:  On Friday, April 26, President Joe Biden made an appearance on ‘The Howard Stern Show’ and shared his well-known story about the time he was allegedly arrested for defending the civil rights of Black Americans.

President Biden also recounted the story of his mother's reaction to Barack Obama's offer to be his running mate during the 2008 election, per CNN.

According to Biden, his mother encouraged him to accept the offer and not turn down a chance to support a man who would potentially become the first Black President of the United States.

What did Joe Biden say on the show?

The 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief recalled his mother’s words from when he was a child, “She said, ‘Joey, let me — remember’ — true story, she said — ‘Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield, the neighborhood … suburbia — and I told you — and there was a Black family moving in and there was — people were down there protesting; I told you not to go down there and you went down, remember that? And you got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family? And they brought you back, the police?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Mom, I remember that.’”

Prior investigation has determined that there is no substantiated evidence to support claims of Joe Biden's arrest during a civil rights demonstration, as reported by both The Washington Post and PolitiFact in 2022.

Despite recounting his presence at the Delaware protest on two separate occasions, Biden failed to mention any arrest, instead asserting that the police merely escorted him home that day. At the time of writing, the White House has not issued a statement in response to this matter.

During a public conversation with Oprah Winfrey towards the end of the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden offered a variation of the story, stating that law enforcement officials escorted him home from the protest because they believed he would face legal repercussions. Notably, he did not mention being arrested.

Back then, the 2020 Democrat presidential candidate told Oprah his mother said, “And there were people protesting and I told you not to go down there and you went down and the police brought you back because you were standing on the step with the Black family. You were standing with them. And the police brought you home because they thought you’d get in trouble.”

Biden told her that he replied, “Yeah, Mom, I remember that.”

In recent weeks, several claims made by President Joe Biden regarding his past have come under scrutiny. One such claim, which has been the subject of media attention, is his assertion that he was arrested at a protest in the 1960s.

While Biden's 2017 memoir contains an abbreviated version of the story, it does not mention an arrest. Furthermore, no other memoir written by the former Vice President references an arrest at such a protest.

The Washington Post and PolitiFact have found that protests similar to the one Biden described took place in early 1959 when he was 16 years old.

These demonstrations occurred in communities close to Biden's Delaware home, and involved crowds protesting the purchase of a home by a Black couple in an all-White community.

However, according to the Wilmington News Journal, the four teenagers arrested at the protest were taken into custody for possessing fireworks.

All seven of the arrests made that day were of individuals who were part of the anti-integration crowd outside the couple's home.

The newspaper reported that police were present to defend the home and the Black couple and that one of them was quoted saying, “Nobody’s behind us.”

It is impossible to verify whether or not Joe Biden was present at this particular protest or a similar one over sixty years ago.

President Joe Biden's mother passed away in 2010, and there is no definitive proof to support the claim that he was arrested during these protests.

Aside from this unsubstantiated claim, President Biden has also made other incorrect statements about his personal history in recent weeks.

For example, he claimed that he used to drive an 18-wheeler, which has been debunked, and that he has never earned $400,000 in a year, which is not accurate.

Additionally, while running for POTUS in 2020, Biden claimed that he was arrested as a US Senator while attempting to visit Nelson Mandela in prison during the apartheid era.

However, this claim was also found to have no supporting evidence, and Biden later clarified that he had been “stopped” in South Africa, but was not arrested.

Internet chastises Joe Biden

One X user remarked, "Any time he prefaces with, “true story” you can trust that it’s a made up lie."

Another user said, "Nothing Biden has claimed ever happened."

Another user wrote, "Good grief; the man has no shame, whatsoever. smh."

One user asked, "When will the media produce a list of this guy’s priors? Oh, right, they’ll just ignore his lies about being arrested so much."

Another X user quipped, "Yes, and Forest Gump was there too, and Bubba. It was Bubba's Momma's house."

A user tweeted, "Biden’s whole career has been based on his lies and deceit. He's a serial liar."

 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.