Washington Post: Biden Mixed Up The Details Of At Least Three Real War Stories Into One Story That Never Happened
SCIUTTO: Tonight, Joe Biden's campaign trail story that is raising questions. Moments ago the Vice President responding to criticism that he was conflating three different true stories by trying to tell a moving story about a war hero in Afghanistan. Here's what he told The Washington Post which had been fact-checking Biden's claims.</s>BIDEN: What is the gaffe when I said there was a young man I tried to pin a medal on him he said, "I don't want it, sir. He died. He died. He died." Now it was a young man, my recollection was that in fact pulled a colleague of his out of a burning Humvee, and he risked his life doing it, and the young man died, that he tried to save."</s>SCIUTTO: That is not entirely the story, he told. Here is part of the story Biden told last week.</s>BIDEN: Young Navy captain, Navy, Navy, up in the mountains in the Kunar valley in Afghanistan. One of his buddies got shot, fell down a ravine about 60 feet. This guy climbed down a ravine carried this guy up on his back under fire and the general wanted me to pin the Silver Star on him. I got up there and stand. That's a God's truth. My word as a Biden. He stood at attention, I went to pin him and he said, "Sir, I don't want the damn. Do not put it on me, sir. Please, sir. Do not do that. He died. He died."</s>SCIUTTO: Out front now, one of the reporters that fact-check Biden story Matt Viser of The Washington Post. Matt, you heard Biden's response to the questions about the story. What's your reaction?</s>MATT VISER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. I mean the reaction is he's emphasizing today in an interview with my colleague Jonathan Capehart the story of Chad Workman which is a very compelling story, involving an incident in Wardak province in Afghanistan that happened which he got a medal, a bronze medal in 2011. And the incident does occur as Biden has described it and as Workman who we spoke with describes it. The problem is that, that's not the story that Biden told last week. It's also not the story that he was telling in 2016 on two occasions. So he's been telling a different story that has, at the core of it, this emotional story about Sgt. Workman, but in a different context.</s>SCIUTTO: So what did he get right what crucial details did he get wrong?</s>VISER: So on Friday he got wrong several elements, talking about going to the Kunar province which is in a different area than the one that Workman was in. In Kunar he went as a senator, not as a vice president as he stated the other night. There was not a Navy captain involved as he said the other night. It's an Army sergeant in Workman's case. He's not pinning a medal on anybody in Kunar province. He's pinning a medal on somebody later in Wardak province. And then the other element is that he's describing this ravine and somebody falling down a ravine and going to retrieve a fallen colleague. That is an incident that did occur in Wardak province and the military member involved with that Kyle white got the Medal of Honor which was given by Barack Obama at the White House. So there are several different stories that are true that are told in a way that is not true. And the emotional core, again, involving one of the soldiers did in fact happen. And that climax you hear where Biden is emotional is one that occurred just not in the context in which he is describing it.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Matt Viser, thanks very much. OUTFRONT now, April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, and Lisa Lerer, she's national political correspondent for "The New York Times." April, are these significance differences in the story he is telling here.</s>APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, they are significant differences. But, Jim, what you have to look at, we are in a climate of lies being thrown at us from the president of the United States. And we're so hypersensitive about issues of lies. People who are prone to gaffes we are holding them to the same standard, putting a bright spotlight on, looking at it like a lie like this president tells versus saying, oh, that's Joe Biden, he is prone to gaffing. At issue is the fact that this Staff Sergeant Workman, did say, you know, he died, do not pin the medal on me. All the other stuff is important. But was it something that -- it's been so long, and he just couldn't get the story right? Or was it an out and out lie? That's the question. And we have someone in the White House who we know is a liar, point blank. And now, this person running for president is known to gaffe. He needs to get it right if he tells the story. But what is it intentional? That's the question. I don't think it was.</s>SCIUTTO: Lisa, let's play more of what Biden told "The Washington Post". Have a listen. I want to get your reaction.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was making the point how courageous these people are, how incredible they are. This generation of warriors, these fallen angels we have lost. And so that -- I don't know what the problem is. I mean, what is it that I said wrong?</s>SCIUTTO: I mean, Matt Viser, Lisa, was making a point about location in Afghanistan, different provinces, et cetera. Does that fundamentally change the meaning of the story he was trying to tell?</s>LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: You know, I think the emotional core is there as matt pointed out earlier in the show. But I think the question for Joe Biden is whether this becomes part of a larger narrative about his gaffes and not only about that but his readiness and his ability to go head to head with Donald Trump. You know, you have this very risk adverse Democratic Party electorate that just wants to find somebody more than anything else that they feel is the strongest candidate to beat Donald Trump. And Biden has positioned himself as the most electable. If he starts looking like a riskier choice, you know, through getting details in stories lake this wrong, through offhand comments that he would argue are misinterpreted and just little mistakes like last week when he was in New Hampshire and said he loved Vermont, things like that, he starts looking like someone is more risky to Democrats. You could see this race start to turn. And there is a possibility that he could lose his commanding position in this primary. And that's really where I think the real risk comes in for him.</s>SCIUTTO: April, to your point, though, we do have a sitting president who deliberately propagates falsehoods every day.</s>RYAN: Deliberately.</s>SCIUTTO: Have the metrics of a campaign changed? In the past, a gaffe, a mistold story might be inconsequential, I mean, are the standards different now when you have someone who deliberately lies every day?</s>RYAN: The standards are different. Everything is changed. Donald Trump is a game player who changes the whole game of spades, I declare war whatever you want to play or monopoly, be it that. What happens is now we are very hypersensitive as anything anyone says, because we're holding this president at such an account with fact-checking. That's one of the big things. I mean, for us to watch a president deliver a speech and in real time fact check, this is saying something. We have never had to really do that before. I mean, you have pundit it's talking back and forth after. But to fact check during the time. We want answers, we want truth. This is saying today what's happening with Biden is that we don't want to have a repeat of what President Trump is doing. That's why they hold Joe Biden and others to this higher standard. Fact check is always great. But, you know, people like Joe Biden, that's one of the things we love to love about him and love to hate about him is the fact that he is who he is, the this guy who is real. You know me. You know me but he's prone to gaffing. But he has to hold himself to a higher standard because we are fact checking.</s>SCIUTTO: Lisa, I suppose, before we go, just a quick thought, the question gets to sharpness for what is going to be a long and brutal presidential election campaign.</s>LERER: Right, and I think the question and the question that April is posing is whether the standard Trump has been able to coast by on. His party, Republicans, his sky high approval ratings, they don't care that he lies and that he gets things wrong. The question is whether that standard applies in the Democratic Party and applies to candidates who don't have the last name Trump. And that's part of what this primary is going to test at least when it comes to Joe Biden.</s>SCIUTTO: And the difference between lying versus factual errors. We're going to be watching closely. Lisa, April, great to have you on. OUTFRONT next, Trump going against his own Pentagon by considering a move that Russia certainly welcomes. And the 2020 candidates want to put a multibillion-dollar business out of business. Why is that? CNN investigates.