TENSE

Biden and Sanders Spar Over Claim of ‘Doctored’ Video

The spat comes as Sanders has intensified its criticisms of the former vice president’s record on Social Security.

2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden accused Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign of releasing a “doctored” video on Saturday that shows him in support of cutting Social Security, though there was no evidence to support that claim. Biden called on the Sanders campaign to “disown” the video, which appears to show Biden saying former House Speaker Paul Ryan was “correct” to want to cut Social Security. “It’s simply a lie,” Biden told supporters in Iowa on Saturday, claiming that PoliFact “acknowledged that it’s a fake.” However, PolitiFact did not say the video was doctored. Instead, the fact-checking site said a claim made in a recent Sanders campaign email was wrong—that “Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.” The website concluded that Sanders' campaign had taken Biden's comments out of context. PolitiFact also noted that Biden's comments about Social Security appeared to be sarcasm. The Biden campaign has also said that he was mocking Ryan in the video.

In response to Biden’s claim, Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir released a statement calling for Biden to “be honest with voters and stop trying to doctor his own public record of consistently and repeatedly trying to cut Social Security.” “The facts are very clear: Biden not only pushed to cut Social Security—he is on tape proudly bragging about it on multiple occasions,” Shakir said.