Joe Biden gaffe quietly corrected by White House as embarrassing error
Joe Biden gaffe quietly corrected by White House as embarrassing error
Reuters
White House aides were forced to quietly correct a numerical error President Joe Biden made during a speech.
President Biden was accused of flubbing spending numbers at an event in Las Vegas.
The 81-year-old President was speaking at the Carpenter International Training Center in Las Vegas on Friday.
He was answering questions on his administration's $8billion railroad investments, including a $3billion high-speed rail line project connecting Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
WATCH NOW: Ted Cruz tells Bill Maher that Joe Biden 'ripped an international agreement to shreds'
Ted Cruz on Joe Biden
Biden appeared to cite an inaccurate spending figure tied to his 2021 infrastructure bill, before seemingly trying to correct himself to a closer figure.
He said: "On my watch, instead of Infrastructure Week, America is having Infrastructure Decade. Over a billion three hundred million trillion three hundred million dollars. Trump just talks the talk. We walk the walk."
One Biden critic said: "Why does the President of the United States sound exactly like my 4-year-old when he's trying to come up with the highest possible number?"
Just hours later, White House aides stepped in by a transcript that papered over the error by expressing it numerically, as "over 1,300,000,000 — $1,000,300,000,000"
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The White House has quietly corrected the gaffe
Reuters
The total spending figure typically associated with the Biden administration's infrastructure bill is $1.2trillion, sometimes rounded down to $1trillion, though never, as the transcript listed, $1,000,300,000,000.
In the speech, the President touted the jobs created by his plans, saying: ""And here's the best part: It means jobs — union jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. I'm a big environmentalist. That's why I'm always talking about the environment.
"When I think environment, I think jobs. Thirty-five thousand jobs during the construction phase; ten thousand union jobs in the building trades: carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, labourers, and more. Jobs, and jobs beyond."
"In fact, once we complete this train line, it's going to be operated by union workers. That means a thousand...that means a thousand new jobs for track and signal workers, on-board workers, shop craft workers, everyone—everyone who works on the rail."
Earlier this month, Muslim American leaders pledged on Saturday to rally their communities against President Biden.
It comes as President Biden has continuously backed Israel in their war with Hamas.
Biden’s party, which has historically counted on support from Arab-American voters, could be set to lose out in 2024 should a large number of voters choose to go along with the boycott.
One leader wrote on social media: "Genocide Joe has got to go! #AbandonBiden."