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Biden Says Details of Inaccurate War Story ‘Irrelevant’ to ‘Decision-Making’

Joe Biden speaks in Chicago, Ill., June 28, 2019. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters)

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said that the details of an inaccurate war story he has told several times are “irrelevant in terms of decision-making” and that he did not intend to “mislead” anyone.

“That has nothing to do with judgment of whether or not you send troops to war, the judgment of whether you bring someone home, the judgment of whether you decide on a health-care policy,” the former vice president said during a radio interview with NPR Politics Podcast and Iowa Public Radio. “The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making.”

Biden doubled down on his defense at a Labor Day picnic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as well, insisting that what matters is whether he intended to mislead.

“[Details] matter in terms of whether you’re trying to mislead people. And I wasn’t trying to mislead anybody,” Biden told reporters.

“The valor and honor of these warriors are as significant as any warriors we’ve ever had in the history of the United States of America,” he added. “That was my point.”

During a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, Biden, 76, told a story apparently riddled with inaccuracies about how a four-star general asked Biden when he was vice president to travel to Afghanistan to award a Silver Star to a Navy captain who rappelled down a ravine under fire to retrieve the body of a fellow American soldier and was later loath to accept the award.

The story appears to be a hodgepodge of at least three events. Biden did in fact visit Afghanistan but as a senator, the soldier was in the Army, and he did not receive a Silver Star but later received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama.

“The story was that he refused the medal because the fella he tried to save — and risked his life saving — died. That’s the beginning, middle and end,” Biden said. “The rest of you guys can take it and do what you want with it.”

“It’s like saying, ‘I had this very bright reporter, and I think her eyes were blue,’” Biden complained. “What difference would it make about whether you were a bright reporter? Your eyes are brown. It’s irrelevant, and you know it.”

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