President Biden subtly corrected the record Thursday after receiving backlash for falsely claiming that his son Beau Biden had been killed in Iraq.
In two separate campaign speeches in New Mexico, Mr. Biden made clear that he died of cancer, adding that he suspected it was caused by exposure to a burn pit while his son was serving in Iraq.
Speaking at an Albuquerque community college where he touted his student debt forgiveness plan, Mr. Biden brought up his son in the context of student debt.
“My son, Beau Biden, who was the attorney general of Delaware and died a year later in Iraq, living next to a burner,” he said, before revealing that he was in debt while attending the University of Pennsylvania and Syracuse Law. School.
Later, during a campaign rally for New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Mr. Biden mentioned his son again.
“I lost my son to cancer,” Mr. Biden said. “He volunteered to go to Iraq for a year. Unfortunately, his drink was right next to one of those burn pits.’
“He came home with stage four glioblastoma and died,” he said.
Bo Biden, who served in the Delaware Army National Guard and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Iraq from 2008 to 2009, died of cancer in 2015.
He was posthumously awarded the Delaware Distinguished Service Cross.
Mr Biden has previously said he believes his son’s cancer was caused by exposure to burn pits in Iraq, although the link has not been proven.
Earlier this week, Mr Biden awkwardly mixed up key details of his son’s death in a speech in Florida after confusing the war in Ukraine with the war in Iraq, blaming the current war on high inflation.
“Inflation is a global problem right now because of the war in Iraq and the impact on oil and what Russia is doing, excuse me, the war in Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said. “I think about Iraq because my son died there.”
Mr. Biden made a similar mistake in Colorado when he signed an executive order designating a former training site for the Army’s 10th Mountain Division as a national monument.
“I say this as the father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Distinguished Service Medal, and died in Iraq. Imagine the courage, the bravery and the real sacrifice — the real sacrifice they all made,” he said, praising the heroism of the famed Army unit during World War II.
The mental stumbles underscored concerns among Democrats about Mr. Biden, 79,’s ability to win the party ticket in 2024.
Earlier gaffes also made headlines in liberal-leaning publications, including The New York Times, which ran the headline: “Biden Gets Verbal Twice on Florida Campaign Trip.”
New York Times senior political reporter Maggie Haberman posted a link to her colleague Peter Baker’s story on Twitter and was quickly met with fury from the left, who accused the paper of trying to prevent Democrats from retaining control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. .
“She’s trying to destroy us,” one user replied.
