Joel B. Pollak 22 May 2020
CLAIM: Joe Biden called on Trump to shut down the country’s economy “one week earlier†to deal with coronavirus.
VERDICT: FALSE. Biden did not call for an early shutdown, though he did criticize Trump’s policies on the pandemic.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared Friday morning on The Breakfast Club, the popular radio show hosted by “Charlemagne tha God.†(Charlemagne had been ripping Biden for months for not appearing yet on his broadcast.)
While much of the ensuring controversy focused on Biden’s comments on race — “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black†— he also made some rather outlandish claims on coronavirus.
Biden cited a recent study, which was written up in the New York Times, claiming fewer people would have died from coronavirus if the country shut down one week earlier. He then claimed he had been calling for such action to be taken.
“If he had listened to me, and others, and acted one week earlier to deal with this virus, there’d be 36,000 fewer people dead. Dead! Dead! And you guys are wondering, what’s he doing? Come on, man! Get a life! Get a life!†Biden said.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/22/fact-check-joe-biden-did-not-call-for-country-to-be-shut-down-one-week-earlier/