Biden Repeats Charlottesville ‘Fine People Hoax’ at Debate
CLAIM: President Joe Biden said President Trump called the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people” in 2017.
Verdict: False. This never happened. Trump said neo-Nazis are “totally condemnable,” proving the hoax to be false.
As he struggled through the first presidential debate ahead of the 2024 general election on CNN Thursday night, Biden reverted to his old gimmick: the “very fine people” fabrication. Even after Trump, correctly, again pointed out in the past few days (by Snopes.com) that the fabrication was false, Biden maintained it was true.
Breitbart News fact-checked the claim directly with Biden.
Here is a recent Breitbart News article about a Snopes fact check that covers all the key points of this hoax:
Snopes.com, perhaps the best-known fact-checking website, has finally confirmed after seven years that President Donald Trump did not call the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville in August 2017 “very fine people.”
The false claim became a central part of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. Biden used it to launch his campaign in April 2019, claiming that he was inspired to run against Trump because he called neo-Nazis “very fine people.”
The reality is that Trump has actually condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and described nonviolent protesters on both sides of the Confederate statue removal issue as “very fine people.”
Why don’t they play the whole video?
Why does this lie persist to this day?
Three years later, people are still believing the lies of “very fine people.” pic.twitter.com/TNaNuVJ3qz
Several commentators, including cartoonist-turned-pundit Scott Adams and conservative commentator Steve Cortez, publicly denied the hoax, which became known as the “very fine people” hoax, but Biden and the media continued to use it.
Breitbart News confronted Biden at the Iowa State Fair in August 2019, asking him why he continued to misquote Trump, to which Biden responded with an angry look, reciting a well-rehearsed sentence in which Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.”
Joel B. Pollack/Breitbart News
This hoax has been publicly debunked twice on the national stage: once during the 2020 vice presidential debate and again during President Trump’s second impeachment trial, where his lawyers exposed it to the world.
U.S. Senate
Biden continued to use the “highly qualified” hoax after taking office, but with the incumbent president facing a tough reelection fight and growing pressure to step down, Snopes.com finally exposed the “highly qualified” hoax.
In a June 20, 2024 post, Snopes rated as “false” the claim that “on August 15, 2017, then-President Donald Trump called the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, ‘very fine people.'”
We looked into these claims and found that while Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” — both protesters and counter-protesters — he also openly condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, specifically saying he was referring to those who were there only to take part in the statue protest.
…
In essence, while Trump said “there are very fine people on both sides,” he clarified that he was not talking about neo-Nazis or white supremacists, who he called “totally condemnable.” Therefore, we rate this claim “False.”
Snopes also provided a full transcript of Trump’s remarks in context to allow readers to judge for themselves.
In an “editor’s note,” Snopes said that Trump was wrong to claim that “there are very fine people on both sides,” but that the fact check was simply aimed at determining whether he praised neo-Nazis. “This fact check is intended to verify what Mr. Trump actually said, not to determine whether his statements are true or false,” Snopes said.
actual, The New York Timesreport At the time, there were people at the Charlottesville rally who supported Confederate statues, who were non-violent and non-racist. Their cause was hijacked by neo-Nazis and white supremacists, but they were in Charlottesville. Times — is by no means a pro-Trump source, he pointed out.
In his rebuttal, Trump said Biden and debate moderator Jake Tapper knew the stories of “very fine people” were false. Biden certainly knows, or has reason to know. The reporter confronted Biden directly and explicitly with the evidence. Biden continues to insist that the stories have not been proven false, which remains the core of his attacks on Trump.
