Fact Check: Joe Biden Falsely Claims Trump Has Never Said ‘One Negative Thing’ About White Supremacists

CLAIM: Joe Biden told CNN that President Donald Trump has never said “one negative thing” about white supremacists.

VERDICT: FALSE. And CNN’s Anderson Cooper failed to correct Biden on the air for an easily disprovable lie.

Biden told Anderson Cooper that Trump had never condemned white supremacists. He also repeated — word-for-word — his script for the debunked “very fine people” hoax, and claimed — falsely — that Trump has never condemned David Duke.

Biden said:

Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about white supremacists? Have you ever heard it? That’s the reason I got back in this race because of what happened in Charlottesville. People coming out of the woods carrying torches, their veins bulging. Close your eyes and remember what you saw. And a young woman gets killed, that resisting the hate and violence. And the president gets asked to comment on it. what does he say? He says there were “very fine people on both sides.” He wouldn’t even condemn David Duke, for God’s sake.

Trump has repeatedly condemned white supremacists. Here’s “one negative thing” — from a televised White House address:

No matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.

Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our Creator. We are equal under the law. And we are equal under our Constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.

There are many other such examples. Biden’s claim was a lie, and Anderson Cooper failed to confront him with the facts.

Notably, Biden has an egregious records of racist statements, most recently claiming “you ain’t black” if you vote for Trump.

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 new 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.