As Twitchy reported, the New York Times was the first to look into Joe Biden’s campaign trail tale that he and a U.N. ambassador were arrested while trying to visit a jailed Nelson Mandela. “No, I was never arrested and I don’t think he was, either,” the ambassador told the Times.
Then Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler looked into the claim and gave it four Pinocchios, along with Biden’s claim that Mandela thanked him for being arrested.
Now Becket Adams is reporting in the Washington Examiner that a campaign spokeswoman has added some “clarity” to the story.
i feel like not enough attention is being paid to the fact that Biden claimed he was arrested in South Africa in the late 70s when he was a Senator because he tried to meet with Nelson Mandela — and now his campaign says he was merely separated from his delegation.
— ?'? ? ??????? ???? (@BecketAdams) February 27, 2020
biden started telling this whopper back in Feb. 11, and no one at that disastrous CBS debate was like, “so there's no evidence that you were arrested in SA, for which you say Nelson Mandela personally thanked you later. why can’t we find evidence of a senator being arrested?"
— ?'? ? ??????? ???? (@BecketAdams) February 27, 2020
Biden “was separated from the [Congressional Black Caucus] members he was traveling with at the airport,” campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield told reporters on Feb. 25. “Biden was separated from a congressional delegation in South Africa and was referring to that.”
“When he landed, he was not allowed to go through the same door as the rest of the party he was with,” she said. “Obviously, this was apartheid South Africa. There was a white door. There was a black door. He did not want to go through the white door and have the rest of the party go to the black door. He was separated.”
Yeah, that’s not the same thing at all. Even worse is that on the campaign trail, Biden has put words into Mandela’s mouth, with Mandela thanking him for getting arrested: “You tried to see me. You got arrested trying to see me,” Mandela supposedly told Biden.
Also, Biden says he and the ambassador were arrested on the streets of Soweto, which is about 900 miles away from Robben Island, where Mandela was incarcerated.
Biden’s CornPop story checks out, though.
He calls being detained being arrested. He was redirected because he went in the wrong door.
— Melanie Allen (@MrsMcCune) February 27, 2020
So the aimless wandering is nothing new.
— Leslie Scheper (@leslie_scheper) February 27, 2020
I don't know who's life Biden is plagiarizing this time, but they sound like they've had a pretty interesting life.
— Sabishii (@Alablast) February 27, 2020
You mean he wasn’t instrumental in Mandela’s success?.
— Richard Fuller (@FullerRichrd) February 27, 2020
Brian Williams was there and has confrimed he was arrested as well.
— Brandon Foshee (@brandonfoshee) February 27, 2020
That occurred between ducking sniper fire and running to the chopper
— ElCapitanMarvel (@ElCapitanMarve1) February 27, 2020
Maybe it’s because the media is busy debunking Warren’s lies about being fired while pregnant…… oh never mind. That’s not happening either.
— Nadler’s Zipper (@AMF2440) February 27, 2020
She pulled that one out again at this week’s debate, entirely uncontested by the moderators.
Also, remember the time Warren and her Sioux war party, along with Mayor Pete and the Delta unit he commanded rode into Soweto to bust Joe out?
— Nadler’s Zipper (@AMF2440) February 27, 2020
Related:
WaPo fact-checker gives Joe Biden four Pinocchios on his ‘arrest’ while trying to visit Nelson Mandela https://t.co/G2GUXPvSzG
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 25, 2020
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