Resurfaced footage from a 2023 speech shows President Joe Biden touting a claim that has been repeatedly debunked, suggesting he has spent more time with the president of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping than any other leader in the world. Biden then abruptly broke into a shout, emphasizing to his audience what the point of America is.
I spent more time with Xi Jinping than any world here has,” he began. “Sixty-eight hours alone, with just he and I and an interpreter. Traveled seventeen thousand miles with him here and in China. On the Tibetan Plateau, he turned to me and he asked me, he said, ‘Can you define America for me?’ I was deadly earnest.” Adding emphasis to his tone, Biden continued, “I said, ‘Yes, in one word, possibilities.”
Raising his voice and yelling, Biden went on, “We in America believe anything is possible if we try it. Anything we do together we can get done.” Users on social media were quick to share the video and call out Biden for pushing the false claim. Inside Coroner wrote, “Joe Biden again claims he “traveled 17,000 miles” with Xi Jinping — a lie that has been repeatedly debunked.”
Over the years, Biden has been continually fact-checked for this claim that he has traveled with the Chinese president for tens of thousands of miles. “I spent over 80 hours with him alone. Over 17,000 miles in China, anywhere in Tibet, near Tibet,” he said in similar comments. “I spent a lot of time with Xi Jinping,” he stated in another instance.
However, the Washington Post investigated the claim in 2021, concluding the math didn’t add up to what Biden was claiming. “Try as we could, however, we still could not get the travel to add up to 17,000 miles,” the outlet said at the time. According to the Post’s falsehood scale, Biden received three Pinnochios for the statement, meaning there is a “significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.”
Aside from making questionable claims about his own political accomplishments, Biden has received criticism for pushing unproven stories about his political opponent President-elect Donald Trump. The Tribune reported on one such instance when Biden pushed the unsubstantiated story that Biden denigrated fallen U.S. servicemembers.
During the speech, Biden said, “Donald Trump, when he was commander in chief, refused to visit a cemetery … U.S. cemetery outside of Paris, for fallen American soldiers, and referred to those heroes, and I quote, as “suckers and losers.” He actually said that he said that. How dare he say that. How dare you talk about my son in all those vets like that.”
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Watch Biden repeated the debunked claim below:
In other comments while campaigning in Pennsylvania, Biden said, “I was reminded of what my opponent said in Paris not too long ago. They asked him to go visit American gravesites. He said ‘no.’ He wouldn’t do it. Because they were all ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ I’m not making that up.” Biden also said, “What I was thinking about when I was standing there was when Trump refused to go up to the memorial for veterans in Paris, and he said they were a bunch of ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.