Former Vice President Joe Biden has been telling one heck of a tale on the campaign trail.
During his time as a senator, Biden was part of a delegation to heavily segregated apartheid South Africa. During the trip, he claims that an attempt to see Nelson Mandela cost him his freedom.
“I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see [Mandela] on Robbens Island,” Biden bragged to a South Carolina crowd this month.
Unfortunately for the 2020 presidential candidate, this story fell apart almost instantly.
Some critics noted even the basic details didn’t add up, such as Biden’s apparent arrest location being some 900 miles away from where Nelson Mandela was actually imprisoned.
Despite repeating the fantastic tale at least three separate times, it took a single question on national television for the entire lie to fall apart.
As CNN’s John Berman interviewed the presidential hopeful, he asked Biden directly about the story.
“You said that during a visit to South Africa to visit Nelson Mandela, which I know was a very memorable visit for you, that you were arrested when you were there,” Berman said.
“Your campaign has come out since and said ‘no, no, no,’ you were separated from other people at the airport, but you did say arrested three times. Why?”
“Here’s the deal,” Biden said, “I was with a black delegation — the CDC, the congressional black caucus — they had me get off the plane and the Afrikaners got on with their short pants and their guns, led me off first and moved me in a direction totally different, I turned around the entire black delegation was going another way.”
Biden then claimed the armed men tried to escort him through a “white only” door, which he then refused. After an act of heroic defiance, Biden explained, the men finally conceded defeat and lead the mixed-race delegation inside together.
“That’s the context of it,” Biden admitted. “When I said ‘arrested,’ I meant I was not able to move, the Afrikaners would not let me go with them and made me stay where I was.”
“I guess I wasn’t arrested, I was stopped. I was not able to move where I wanted to go.”
Without missing a beat, Berman immediately dropped the line of questioning and began asking Biden about President Donald Trump’s potential re-election and its repercussions on America.
Watch the full segment below.
In a shameful exchange, @cnn finally asks @JoeBiden about lying several times about being arrested in South Africa on way to meet Nelson Mandela.
-Biden says he meant "he was not able to move" and he was "stopped"
-@JohnBerman doesn't challenge him, pivots to Trump question
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Biden claims his political career is full of experience and achievements that make him a perfect candidate for the Oval Office.
If that’s true, why does he feel the need to continue lying to the American people about his work?
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