Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden falsely claimed that President Donald Trump held the Bible upside down when he stood outside St. John’s Church.
Biden made the comments during Thursday’s drive-in style town hall on CNN, referencing the president’s surprise visit to the church in June after several nights of protests and riots had left the church and other nearby buildings vandalized and burned. (RELATED: President Trump Walks Out Of White House, Holds Up Bible In Front Of St. John’s Church Amid Protests)
In addition to claiming that he had held the Bible upside down, Biden alleged that Trump had returned to the White House and taken refuge in a bunker after taking a photo outside the church.
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“A president who stands out there when people are peacefully protesting in front of the White House, no — no violence whatsoever,” Biden said, adding, “He gets the military to go in, put tear gas, move people, physically move them out of the way so he can walk across to a Protestant church and hold a Bible upside down. I don’t know if he ever opened it. Upside down, and then go back to a bunker in the White House?”
But CNN’s own fact-checker Daniel Dale responded to Biden’s claim about the Bible, saying that it was, in fact, false. He also noted that Trump went to the bunker several days earlier, not the day of his visit to Lafayette Square.
“Biden is wrong that Trump held the Bible upside down at St. John’s church. (This has become a weirdly widespread belief, but it’s incorrect.) And Trump didn’t go to the church and then to the White House bunker, as Biden suggested; he went to the bunker three days prior,” Dale tweeted.
Biden is wrong that Trump held the Bible upside down at St. John’s church. (This has become a weirdly widespread belief, but it’s incorrect.) And Trump didn’t go to the church and then to the White House bunker, as Biden suggested; he went to the bunker three days prior.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 18, 2020