In a recent event promoting commuter rail in Delaware, President Biden reiterated a personal anecdote involving an Amtrak conductor, despite the story having been previously debunked by fact-checkers.
The President's narrative, which he has recounted at least 12 times since assuming office, involves a conductor named Angelo who allegedly hailed him as "Joey, baby!" and praised his extensive rail travel mileage.
The President shared the anecdote twice during the event, first in a conversation with Amtrak employees and later during his speech. Each rendition of the story added further details, distancing it from established facts.
Biden stated, "When I was Vice President, I flew over a million miles on Air Force Two, but I traveled further than that on Amtrak over the years." He continued, "I was coming home to see my mom, and I just she was living at this time, my dad had passed away. And I got on the train on a Friday, and I wont get him [the Amtrak conductor] into complete trouble, Ill just tell you his first name, but Ill just tell you his first name. He was No. 2 in seniority at the time, Angelo."
According to the President, Angelo approached him and said, "Joey!" and he grabbed my cheek, and he said, 'Joey, Baby!' They had just published in the newspaper that I had traveled 1,200,000 miles on Air Force planes as vice president, they published that on a regular basis."
The conductor then allegedly told Biden, "Big deal, Joey!" and proceeded to calculate that Biden had traveled "A million [and] 320,000 miles" on Amtrak, based on "180 days a year, almost 300 miles a day, 36 years."
However, this account was rated as "False" in 2021 by CNN "Facts First" journalist Daniel Dale. Dale noted that Biden did not reach a million miles aboard Air Force Two until September 2015, long after Angelo Negri's retirement from Amtrak in 1993 and his death in May 2014. Furthermore, Biden's daily private schedule as Vice President included a note about how many Air Force miles he had traveled.
The President's retelling of this anecdote comes at a time when polling indicates that a majority of voters believe he is too old to serve another four-year term. A New York Times poll released on Sunday found that 71% of swing-state voters hold this view.
Biden, who will turn 81 this month, has a long-standing tendency to embellish personal stories. This propensity led to his withdrawal from his first presidential bid in 1987 due to plagiarism of speeches and a law school paper, as well as exaggerations about his academic performance.
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