Fact-checking Biden’s ABC interview

President Biden dismissed concerns about his clumsy performance during the first presidential debate last month in a primetime interview on Friday.

In the interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Biden downplayed and distorted polls that showed him falling further behind former President Donald J. Trump since the debate. He also exaggerated Trump’s proposals and made exaggerated claims about his own performance and recent events.

Here’s a fact check.

what was said

“After that debate, I did 10 major events in a row, including until 2 a.m. after the debate. I did events in North Carolina. I did events in — in — in Georgia, did events like this one today, big crowds, overwhelming response, no — no — no slip-ups.”

That is exaggerated. Since the June 27 debate, Biden has traveled up and down the East Coast, attending more than a dozen events, according to his public calendarWhether the events can be considered “big” and the crowd “large” is a matter of opinion, but Mr. Biden was wrong on several points.

Before the interview on Friday, Mr. Biden said: said from Mr. Trump at a rally in Wisconsin that he would “beat him again in 2020.”

At a Fourth of July barbecue with service members and their families, Mr. Biden said referred to Mr. Trump as “one of our former colleagues,” before correcting himself.

And at a fundraising reception in East Hampton, New York, he said: confused He mentioned Italy and France when referring to the location of a veterans cemetery he recently visited.

What was said

“I am the man who took out Putin. No one thought it could happen.”

This requires context. Mr. Biden’s campaign said he was referring to reports that Russian President Vladimir V. Putin had hoped for a quick and decisive victory in Ukraine but had failed to do so, and that the Russian military had suffered heavy losses. That, the campaign said, was possible in part because of Mr. Biden’s mobilization of allies and aid.

Yet, two years later, Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine continues. And despite the heavy sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western countries, the economy continues to grow. The World Bank recently upgraded Russia from an upper-middle income country to a high-income country.

What was said

“Every pollster I talk to tells me it’s a tossup. It’s a tossup. And if I’m behind, there’s only one poll I’m really behind on, CBS and NBC, I mean, forgive me.”

That is exaggerated. Biden’s campaign pointed to a poll from Bloomberg showing Trump ahead by two percentage points, and argued that most polls showed Trump’s lead was within the margin of error — a statistical indicator of uncertainty in poll results.

While it is true that many polls put Trump’s lead within the margin of error, most public polls have him ahead. FiveThirtyEight’s average of national polls showed Mr. Trump with a 2.5 percentage point lead, while The average of Real Clear Politics showed Trump leading by 3.3 percentage points on Friday evening.

Of 12 polls compiled by Real Clear Politics and 14 by FiveThirtyEight, only one, from Reuters/Ipsos, showed a tie. Biden’s campaign said Biden misspoke and was referring to the New York Times/Siena College poll, which showed a six-point lead for Trump. Polls by The Wall Street Journal And CNN showed a similar advantage for Mr. Trump.

What was said

“The New York Times had me behind before anything had to do with this race — had me behind — 10 points behind me. Ten points behind me. Nothing of substance has changed since the debate in The New York Times poll.”

This is misleading. The New York Times/Siena College poll showed Trump’s lead had grown by three points among both likely and registered voters. Biden also exaggerated the Times’ poll results ahead of the debate.

Before the debate, Mr. Trump led among likely voters 48 percent to 44 percent (a three-point margin before rounding) and among registered voters 48 percent to 42 percent in the June Times poll. After the debate, Mr. Trump led among likely voters 49 percent to 43 percent and 49 percent to 41 percent (a nine-point margin before rounding).

Biden’s campaign said the poll’s margin of error was 2.8 percent and that Trump’s lead therefore fell within that margin, indicating a small shift.

What was said

“This is a man who told us to put bleach in our arms to fight Covid, with a million — over a million people dying. This is a man who talks about wanting to abolish the health care that we put in place. This is a man who wants to give the power back to Big Pharma to charge exorbitant prices for drugs.”

That is exaggerated. Trump’s April 2020 comments about the effectiveness of disinfectants and light as a treatment for the coronavirus caused a stir and confusion. He did not instruct people to inject bleach, but suggested it was an “interesting” concept to test with a disinfectant.

A brown color Press conference April 2020A member of Trump’s coronavirus task force said the virus dies in direct sunlight and that using bleach indoors kills the virus within five minutes and isopropyl alcohol within 30 seconds.

Mr. Trump responded: “And then I see the disinfectant, which knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way that we can do that, by injecting it from the inside or almost by cleaning it? Because you see it goes into the lungs and it does a tremendous amount to the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

The Biden campaign said Mr. Biden’s comment on health care was a reference to Mr. Trump’s recent proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. While he campaigned on that proposal in 2016, his current position is vague and he has yet to release a health care plan.

While Trump continues to criticize the health care law as an expensive “disaster,” he said at a January rally in Iowa that his administration would “either work on Obamacare or do something new.” Trump also wrote on social media in March that “I am not running to end the ACAalthough he has not released any details about what he would do.

Likewise, Mr. Trump has said nothing about ending a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate change, health and tax law that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Although some Republican lawmakers expressed interest in withdrawal Mr. Trump did not comment on that provision.

What was said

“Well, Mark is a good man. We never had that — he tried to get the nomination too.”

This is misleading. Asked about reports that Virginia Sen. Mark Warner was convening fellow Democrats in the Senate to discuss Biden’s future as the party’s presidential nominee, Biden dismissed the reports, claiming that Warner was a former political rival.

But Mr. Warner has never run for president. Mr. Warner had considered a run nearly two decades ago, but announced in 2006 that he would not seek the nomination. Mr. Biden briefly ran for president in 2008, but dropped out of the race in January after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.