Fact Check: Biden spoke with Rabbi of Tree of Life, but his claim about visiting the synagogue is false

Biden also said in a parallel comment that he had visited the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the site of a 2018 shooting massacre in which 11 people were killed.

“Before I thought hatred could be overcome, it could be eliminated. But I learned a long time ago, you can’t. It just hides. It hides. It hides under rocks. And with any oxygen, it’s a minority vision, but it comes out, and it comes out furious, and it has been given too much oxygen in the last four, five, seven, ten years, and it has seen itself, if it were … I remember spending time in the – you know, going to the – you know, the Synagogue of the Tree of Life, talking to the – just – “Biden said; he didn’t finish the sentence, instead continuing, “It’s amazing that these things happen, that they happen in America.”

But the synagogue’s executive director, Barb Feige, told the New York Post on Thursday that Biden did not actually visit her.

Myers said in a statement to CNN on Friday: “President Biden kindly called me on my cell phone while sitting at Dulles Airport waiting for a flight back to Pittsburgh after he testified before Congress in July 2019. D In a sincere way, he expanded his I talked about the challenges of anti-Semitism and made it clear that he would face it with us as president.The conversation meant a lot to me, and I will always be grateful for his kind words and I continued to support our community. ”

Still: Biden told Jewish leaders and members of the public that they saw the event that he had actually gone to the synagogue and spent time there. A call is not the same. And if he had wanted to correct his talk about “spending time in” and “going” to the synagogue by adding the part about “talking to” someone, he could have made it clear.