FACT CHECK: Did Joe Biden Make This Disparaging Remark Disregarding Americans In Afghanistan?
A post shared on Facebook claims President Joe Biden said about Americans evacuating from Afghanistan: “F*** them. If they die, we’ll blame Trump.”
Verdict: False
There is no record of Biden saying the quote. The claim stems from a website that contains “humor, parody, and satire.”
Fact Check:
The Taliban took power over Afghanistan quickly amid the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces, according to Reuters. The Pentagon announced on August 21 that the U.S. evacuated about 17,000 people from the country during the past week, the Hill reported.
The August 18 Facebook post claims Biden said of American evacuees in Afghanistan: “F** Them. If they die, we’ll blame Trump.” (RELATED: Does This Image Show An Indian Air Force Plane Evacuating People From Afghanistan?)
Contrary to this claim, there is no record of Biden making that statement. It doesn’t appear in any of his speeches and remarks recorded on the White House website. Nor did he say anything similar during an Aug. 18 interview on ABC News. Rather, during the interview he said he is committed to keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave can do so. Had Biden made such a disparaging comment, major news outlets certainly would have reported on it, yet none have done so.
Biden has spoken about Trump in connection with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. In February 2020, Trump formed the Doha agreement with the Taliban to completely remove U.S. forces from the country by May 1, 2021, according to Politico. Though Biden previously contended that the deal influenced his own pursuit of total troop removal, he said during the ABC News interview that he would have looked for a way to achieve that objective regardless, the outlet reported.
The claim appears to stem from an Aug. 18 article published by Real Raw News bearing the headline: “Biden on American Evacuees: ‘F** Them. If they die, we’ll blame Trump.'” While Real Raw News has a disclaimer on its website stating it “contains humor, parody, and satire,” the Facebook post does not, seemingly believing the quote to be genuine.
This is not the first time a claim from a Real Raw News article was spread on social media as if it were true. Check Your Fact recently debunked the baseless claim that Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was arrested by the military.