In an attempt to relate to Maui wildfire survivors on Monday, President Biden told a fire story of his own —although it’s one that has been fact-checked many times over.
“The 80-year-old president was attempting to make common ground with his audience by invoking a small kitchen fire in 2004 at his Wilmington, Del., home that the local fire department said ‘could be considered an insignificant’ fire because it was quickly doused,” New York Post reported.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense — Jill and I — what it’s like to lose a home,” Biden told the Lahaina residents who lost their whole town.
“Years ago now — 15 years ago — I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press.’ It was a sunny Sunday and lightning struck at home on a little lake that is outside of our home — not on a lake, a big pond,” Biden said.
“And it hit a wire and came up underneath our home into the heating ducts, air conditioning ducts. And to make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat.”
Biden added that firefighters who responded “ran into flames to save my wife and save my family. Not a joke.”
From The New York Post:
At the time of Biden’s small home fire, local fire chief George Lamborn told the Associated Press, “Luckily, we got it pretty early. The fire was under control in 20 minutes.”
The AP reported that it was a “small fire that was contained to the kitchen” and that Jill Biden reported it to the emergency services.
The news wire did not report that she was trapped inside the home and said no one was injured.
The president has told variations of the story over time.
Watch the clip above.
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