President Joe Biden falsely claimed Wednesday he almost lost his entire house to a fire while speaking to Florida hurricane victims.
“I know from experience how much anxiety and fear concern are to other people,” Biden said. “We didn’t lose our whole home but lightning struck and we lost an awful lot of it about 15 years ago.”
Biden is grossly exaggerating the extent of the fire, as he has done repeatedly throughout his career.
Lightning struck Biden’s house in 2004, starting a small fire in the kitchen, but according to Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn, they were able to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the house.
“Luckily, we got it pretty early,” the fire chief told the Associated Press at the time. “The fire was under control in 20 minutes.”
It’s not the first time that Biden has exaggerated his story about the fire to try to sympathize with people who completely lost their homes.
“We have had lightning strike our home and almost lose our home,” Biden said during a visit to Colorado in January after wildfires destroyed more than 1,000 homes. “And we only lost about 25 percent of it; we were able to rebuild.”
At an event in November 2021, Biden also exaggerated the details of the fire.
“I know, having had a house burn down with my wife in it — she got out safely, God willing — that having a significant portion of it burn, I can tell: 10 minutes makes a hell of a difference,” he said.