How Biden has exaggerated stories on son Beau, house fire at his home in Delaware and others

President Joe Biden was in full flow, celebrating the nation’s national parks during a visit to Colorado and paying tribute to the bravery of American servicemen and women.

And then the 79-year-old delivered the line that would overshadow his visit to Camp Hale, a World War II military installation that was used to train the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division.

‘I say this is a father of a man who won the bronze star the conspicuous service medal and lost his life in Iraq,’ he said.

In fact his son Beau Biden served in Iraq but died six years later from a brain tumor, which his family believes was the result of exposure to toxic fumes from burn pits in the country.

It was ammunition for his rightwing critics, who accused him of lying about his son Beau, while supporters were quick to flag the cancer link.

Either way, the story was nothing new for a public figure known as gaffe-prone, and whose record is littered with examples of exaggerated yarns deployed to build a  folksy political identity. 

The gaffes ended his run for the White House in 1987, when he failed to attribute portions of a speech lifted from that of a British politician. 

At Camp Hale in Colorado on Wednesday, President Joe Biden described himself as ‘father of a man who won the bronze star the conspicuous service medal and lost his life in Iraq’

Biden’s son Beau died at the age of 46 in 2015, six years after being deployed to Iraq. His family believe exposure to toxic fumes from burn pits may have been responsible for his brain tumor

In the ensuing furor he was forced into another humiliating climbdown when he had to admit that he had not finished in the top half of his law school as he previously claimed.

He actually graduated 76th out of a law school class of 85. And rather than a full scholarship, he was actually only awarded a partial scholarship.

Now, as he approaches his 80th birthday, opponents say that the falsehoods and exaggerations suggest he is not up to running for president in 2024.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was physician to President Barack Obama and Donald Trump, used the example of Beau Biden’s death to repeat his claim that Biden was not fit for office.

‘If he’s forgotten moments in his life like this, HOW could he have the cognitive ability to lead the country? This has gone too far,’ he tweeted. 

‘Biden needs to take a cognitive exam or RESIGN!’ 

Friends and officials explain away the comments, insisting that Biden’s intended meaning – such as saying that Beau died from an illness caused by his time in Iraq – are clear to listeners.

And his exaggerations often seem designed to build a bridge to his audience.

In that sense Biden is no different to anyone who sometimes trips up when trying make sense of the past and make a broader point, according to Robert Feldman, a professor of psychology at University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of ‘The Liar in Your Life.’

‘People say things that may not be 100 percent accurate and people do it to get along with other people, it makes you more likable, it makes you feel like you are connecting with people,’ he said. 

During a visit to see hurricane damage in Puerto Rico with his wife Jill, Biden told his audience he was ‘raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically’

‘It’s a benign kind of phenomena explained by normal memory lapses and the desire to ingratiate ourselves with others.’

When he recently visited Puerto Rico to see hurricane damage and recovery efforts he talked about growing up in Delaware with its large number of Puerto Rican residents.

‘And so I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically,’ he said, a fact apparently omitted from his two biographies.

A White House spokesman defended his comments, saying he was describing the people and experience that informed his political outlook.

‘Since the 1970’s, when President Biden first ran for Senate, the largest Hispanic population in Delaware has been made up of Puerto Ricans – many of whom lived in his hometown, Wilmington,’ said Andrew Bates.

‘He was often in that community on a grassroots level, doing Senate casework, going to fairs, schools, and musical events, and attending mass.’

At other times, his words can jar.

When he visited Florida to see the utter devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian, he said that he understood the misery of families who had lost everything.

‘But we know from experience, I know from experience how much – how much anxiety and fear and concern there are in the people,’ he said. 

‘We didn’t lose our whole home, but lightning struck and we lost an awful lot of it about 15 years ago, and we had a lot to go to.’

He brought up the fire again a week later when he addressed a fire safety summit.

Biden described how lightning struck a pond near his home.

President Joe Biden claimed that firefighters almost died during a fire at his Delaware home in 2004 that lasted 20 minutes and was contained to the kitchen

‘Ended up generating this thick, black smoke … ‘ he said. 

‘And from the basement to the third floor, the attic, everything was ruined. 

‘And the kitchen floor – we almost lost a couple firefighters, they tell me, because the kitchen floor was burning between beams in the house, in addition to almost collapsing into the basement.’

Reports from the time paint a different picture. They say no one was injured and that the fire did not spread beyond the kitchen.

‘Luckily, we got it pretty early,’ said Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn. ‘The fire was under control in 20 minutes.’ 

At other times, he has muddled visits with telephone calls. 

Last year, when talking about hate-fueled violence, he described ‘spending time at’ the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, when a gunman shot dead 11 people in 2018.

But the synagogue’s rabbi said no visit had happened; the two had spoken by telephone. 

And then there are the claims about tangling with law enforcement officers at home and abroad. 

Earlier this year, during a speech in Atlanta on voting rights, he got into trouble for claiming to be have been arrested during civil rights protests

‘Because I’m so damn old, I was there as well. You think I’m kidding, man,’ he said to laughter. 

‘It seems like yesterday the first time I got arrested.’

But there is no evidence he was ever arrested during that period and the Washington Post fact checker gave the claim four Pinnochios. 

Biden set the record straight during a White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. ‘I wasn’t arrested, I got stopped, prevented from moving,’ he admitted

During the 2020 campaign, he repeated a claim about South Africa and Nelson Mandela.

‘I had the great honor of meeting him,’ he said at a campaign event in South Carolina. 

‘I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens [sic] Island.’

Except he didn’t. Another four Pinnochios amid a welter of confusing explanations from friends and officials, suggesting he may have muddled different stories, or been separated from a congressional delegation or stopped by police rather than arrested.

Bates, the White House spokesman, contrasted Biden with the previous president.

‘President Biden has brought honesty and integrity back to the Oval Office, making historic progress for the American middle class and restoring our leadership in the world while never losing touch with his roots,’ he said.

‘Like he promised, he gives the American people the truth right from the shoulder and takes pride in being straight with the country about his agenda and his values; including by sharing life experiences that have shaped his outlook and that hardworking people relate to.’