Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden disseminated multiple falsehoods while answering questions during a CNN town hall.
Biden criticized President Trump’s activity throughout the summer amid unrest following several deaths in police custody. However, he shared false information about Trump’s photograph in front of St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., and reports that the president went inside the White House bunker.
“He gets the military to go in, put tear gas, move people — physically move them out of the way, so he can walk across to a Protestant church and hold a Bible upside down,” Biden began. “I don’t know if he ever opened it, upside down. And then, go back to a bunker in the White House. What are we talking about here?”
Though the Trump administration’s clearing of protesters in front of the White House to visit the church for a photograph was widely criticized, false information spread online that the president held a Bible upside down. Fact-checkers disputed the claim and noted that Trump did hold the Bible right-side up.
The president also did not visit the bunker, reports Trump has denied, the same day as the photograph was taken. The reported incident that Secret Service agents rushed him to the underground bunker happened as protesters clashed with law enforcement outside of the White House three days earlier.
Trump told Watergate journalist Bob Woodward for his book Rage that the visit to the bunker occurred during the day and was an “inspection.”
“Because they wanted me to inspect it. It was a very minor event, and I just went down to inspect it. It was, first of all, it was during the day, where there was no problem during the day at all,” Trump told Woodward.
Trump said the “inspection” lasted about 15 minutes.
“I went one time, very quickly. It was an inspection, and they made it sound like it was — again, Bob, it was during the day,” Trump continued.
However, Attorney General William Barr later contradicted Trump’s narrative about the visit to the bunker during an interview on Fox News.
“We were reacting to three days of extremely violent demonstrations right across from the White House. A lot of injuries to the police officers, arson. Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker,” Barr said.
