Joe Biden Repeats Charlottesville ‘Very Fine People’ Hoax in Speech on Capitol Riot

President-elect Joe Biden repeated the false claim Thursday that President Donald Trump had praised neo-Nazis in deadly riots in Charlottesville in August 2017.

Biden was addressing the riots on Capitol Hill the day before.

He claimed:

One of my goals in running in the first place, you may recall, I said when I saw those people coming out of the fields on Charlottesville shouting hate, a young woman killed. And when asked, the president said that there are good people on both sides. That’s literally why I ran. There’s no more important and heartfelt effort on my part than restoring, restoring the independence and integrity of our justice department.

In fact, as the transcript of his remarks shows, President Trump said that the neo-Nazis should be “condemned totally.”

Breitbart News has fact-checked Biden’s claim, which is popularly known as the “Charlottesville very fine people hoax,” several times. For example:

President Trump condemned neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville in August 2017 — “totally,” and repeatedly:

• Aug. 12, 2017: Trump condemned “violence “on many sides” in Charlottesville, after neo-Nazi and Antifa clashes

• Aug. 14, 2017: Trump condemned “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups” in White House statement

• Aug. 15, 2017: Trump condemned neo-Nazis “totally,” praised non-violent protesters “on both sides” of statue debate

Vice President Mike Pence also debunked the hoax on live television during his debate with then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) in October.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.