After US President Joe Biden told a story about the many miles he travelled using Amtrak, during an event marking the rail agency's 50 years, Fox News on Wednesday rolled out a report that the story "doesn't add up."
Speaking at the event, Biden said that one newspaper estimated that he had taken over 7,000 round trips on Amtrak over the course of his long career. The president added that he thought the claim an "exaggeration", recalling calculations made by a person named Angelo Negri.
"There was an article, I guess my fourth or fifth year as vice president, saying Biden travels 1,300,000 miles on Air Force One [Two]. I used to – the Secret Service didn't like it – but I used to like to take the train home. [...] I got on the train and Angelo Negri came up and he goes, ‘Joey, baby'", Biden said. "He said, 'Joey, what's the big deal? 1,300,000 miles on Air Force Two? Do you know how many miles you traveled on Amtrak?' I said, 'No, Angie, I don't know.' He gave me the calculation and he said you traveled 1,500,000 miles on Amtrak. The fact is, I'd probably take Angie's word before I'd take the word of what the article said."
According to Fox News, however, the story appears to have some inconsistencies. The media outlet highlights, citing an obituary, that Negri, who died in 2014, resigned from Amtrak in 1993 - a time when Biden was a US senator, not a vice president. Fox News also added that Biden's mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, died in 2010.
Fox News also pointed out that Biden hit 1 million miles on Air Force Two in 2015, citing a blog post by Biden's vice presidential photographer, David Lienemann.
Some netizens, reacting to the Fox News report, piqued Biden, saying that "nothing" that the president says "adds up". Others, however, said that the previous US president, Donald Trump, told stories that did not add up more often.
Little of what he said made sense,it’s sad
— ATjude (@aguyswife1) May 5, 2021
Is it just an Amtrak story that doesn't add up?
— cantpickem (@cantpickemall) May 5, 2021
Nothing ’adds up’ when it comes to him 😡
— Heidi Anne (@heidiomie) May 5, 2021
Like ANYTHING Trump says does add up?!?
— Ryan Zimmerman (@ryanmichaelzim1) May 5, 2021
Many suggest that the odd details of the Amtrak story were yet another gaffe by the US president, of which he is prone. One of Biden's latest slips of the tongue saw him mispronouncing the name of a vaccine website in a Tuesday speech, urging everyone to go visit "vaccines.gum" instead of "vaccines.gov". He also mistakenly referred to the acronym of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as "CCD".
