As my colleague Bonchie reported, President Joe Biden said during a speech Monday in Alaska that he was in New York City the day following the 9/11 terrorist attacks—however, numerous records show that he was not. Biden:
BIDEN: “Ground Zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day and looking at the building. I felt like I was looking through the gates of hell.”
On September 12, 2001, Biden was in Washington, D.C., for a Senate session. pic.twitter.com/vUyu63KXcV
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 11, 2023
“Ground Zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day and looking at the building. I felt like I was looking through the gates of Hell, it looked so devastating because the way you could — from where you could stand,” Biden said during his speech at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska marking the devastating acts of terrorism 22 years ago.
READ: Biden’s 9/11 Speech in Alaska Was a National Embarrassment
Yet here’s the president in a C-SPAN clip dated 9/12/2001 showing him delivering a speech on the Senate floor:
What jumps out at me immediately in watching this speech is just how different he sounds today. Here, he sounds forceful, in command of the English language, and able to communicate without the constant assistance of a teleprompter or notes. A striking contrast to the man who can barely make it through a speech or press briefing these days.
What it also shows, however, is that Biden was standing on the floor of the Senate, not “looking through the gates of Hell” in lower Manhattan.
Other records also indicate that he was in fact in Washington, D.C., on the Day After, not the Big Apple:
However, according to C-SPAN coverage of U.S. Senate proceedings on September 12, 2001, Biden was in Washington, D.C. and gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. Records show the Senate met in the morning, and a classified briefing was held for all senators that afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Records also show Biden participated in a joint resolution vote condemning the terrorist attacks later that afternoon. Biden was the Democratic manager of the resolution.
According to a report by The New York Post, Biden also contradicted his own claim in his autobiography detailing his actions after the attacks. Biden said in the book that he “headed back to the Capitol” on September 12, and made no mention of visiting Ground Zero that day.
The report also noted a Gannett News Wire report from Sept. 12, 2001 stating, “Delaware Sen. Joe Biden spent Wednesday exactly where he wanted — in the U.S. Senate.”
Biden’s questionable claim comes on the day he is under fire for spending the anniversary of 9/11 in Vietnam and Alaska, not the site of the tragedy.
See: Yikes: Biden Thanks the Vietnamese on 9/11, Visits Site Where McCain Was Captured
His administration, for some unfathomable reason, also thought it would be a great idea to mark the day by announcing a $6 billion deal with Iran, a nation that the United States has deemed a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
See: Biden Admin Commemorates 9/11 by Announcing Deal to Pay Iran $6 Billion to Release U.S. Hostages
Now I’m not going just flat-call Joe Biden a liar—perhaps he somehow found a way to get to New York City on 9/12. It wasn’t on his beloved Amtrak, though, because service was suspended in the aftermath of the attacks. It wasn’t by airliner, either, because almost all flights were grounded at the time.
Biden is a known serial plagiarist and fabulist, though, so unless he’s got some really incredible explanation for what appears to be an outright falsehood, he’s been caught yet again spreading misinformation.
As of this writing, the White House has not responded to queries from news organizations about his apparent fib.
