WASHINGTON – President Biden did not visit the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the assassination of eleven congregants, though he admitted the White House admitted Friday.
Biden told Jewish leaders Thursday that he remembered “spending time in” and “going to” the tree of life, but the synagogue told The Post that he never visited it.
Nearly 24 hours after being asked about the discrepancy, a White House official said in a statement that Biden “was referring to a call he had with the Rabbi of the Tree of Life in 2019.”
Biden’s initial false statement received widespread criticism and appeared in segments of CNN and Fox News.
The 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life was the worst hate crime against Jews in U.S. history.
Biden has a reputation for making false or embellished claims and left his first presidential campaign in 1988 due to a plagiarism scandal. But at almost 79, his mental acuity is also a frequent topic of public debate.
In an infamous misrepresentation, Biden claimed in 2020 that he “had the great honor of being arrested” in South Africa when he “tried to see [Nelson Mandela] on Robbens Island, ”where Mandela was in prison until 1990. He said Mandela thanked him.
Biden later admitted: “I was not arrested, I was arrested. I couldn’t move where I wanted to go. “
Biden left the 1988 Democratic presidential primary due to a plagiarism scandal. He admitted that he had plagiarized a law school document and was exposed for having used without lines of credit British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.
However, Biden struggled with his memory at Thursday’s act.
The president could not remember the name of the song “Hava Nagila” while talking about his daughter’s wedding to a Jew and said, “Now my mind is left blank, what is the song that is played where everyone is in the chair? I don’t remember. “
Although Biden incorrectly said he visited the Tree of Life, the congregation’s rabbi, Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, indicated there were no harsh feelings in a statement released by the White House.
“President Biden kindly called me on my cell phone while I was sitting at Dulles Airport waiting for a flight back to Pittsburgh after testifying before Congress in July 2019,” Myers said.
“Sincerely, he expressed his condolences and asked how we were doing. We talked about the challenges of anti-Semitism and he 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 your kind words and the continued support of our community. “
Then-President Donald Trump visited the Tree of Life three days after the mass shooting. Trump was joined by prominent Jewish members of his administration, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.