Former Vice President Joe Biden attempted to use COVID-19 to attack President Trump, who he will more than likely face in November’s general election, but received four “Pinocchios” from The Washington Post’s fact-check.
I am shocked - shocked! - to learn that the Biden campaign's reckless political attacks in the middle of a crisis are turning out to be false.
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) March 24, 2020
FOUR Pinocchios for the latest Biden video. ????????https://t.co/ktJ3PqbWuQ
The Washington Post just gave Joe Biden's campaign more Pinocchios. pic.twitter.com/XMTQuLnFuP
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 24, 2020
The video in question features Ron Klain, who served as President Obama’s Ebola czar and went on to be an aide to Biden.
Everyone knows that we're facing a real crisis from the coronavirus. But do you know how we got here and what we need to do next? Ron Klain, former White House Ebola Response Coordinator, breaks it down for us: pic.twitter.com/XRkIw2EzM4
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 21, 2020
The video claimed that President Trump was “silencing” officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifically, Klain claims that Dr. Nancy Messonnier faced blowback from the Trump Administration for raising concerns about the Wuhan coronavirus’s threats to global health. Dr. Messonnier’s remarks, on a phone call with reporters, were blunt and allegedly upset Wall Street. Klain tried to use her blunt sentiment to claim that President Trump “sidelined” Dr. Messonnier, which is demonstrably false:
“Meanwhile, far from being silenced, Messonnier kept doing her telephone briefings with reporters — on Feb. 28, Feb. 29, March 3 and March 9. She also appeared in four videos shared on social media, such as this one from March 14,” the fact-check says.
The fact check concludes that Dr. Messonnier was not silenced, continues to be a voice at the table fighting COVID-19, and that the Biden Campaign's video was misleading:
“The video created a false narrative. The Biden campaign earns Four Pinocchios.”
