President Joe Biden has been questioned over his claim that he used to drive an 18-wheeler truck, with evidence only suggesting he once rode in one for a night in 1973.
Biden was caught off-camera by a local news channel’s microphone during a visit to a Mack Truck facility in Pennsylvania, making the claim that he had driven such trucks before.
‘I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man,’ Biden was heard saying on Wednesday in a video later posted to Twitter. ‘I got to.’
President Joe Biden has been questioned over his claim he made on Wednesday while visting a Mack Trucks facility (pictured) that he used to drive an 18-wheeler truck
A video shared by local news station 69 WFMZ showed audio of president Biden claiming ‘I used to drive an 18-wheeler, man’. The claim appears to have been debunked on social media
Large trucks such as the one Biden gave a speech in-front of during the visit to the facility require a special licence to drive, and there is scant evidence that he has ever driven an 18-wheeler truck as he was heard claiming.
‘There is *zero evidence* that Biden ‘used to drive an 18 wheeler,”‘ tweeted the RNC’s Zach Parkinson, who is also the director of ‘RNC Research’ whose twitter account posted the video online.
‘The extent of Biden’s trucking experience is that he **rode in** a truck once, for one night in 1973 (he made sure to return home by plane though),’ her said.
Parkinson cited a 1973 opinion piece written by Biden, then a Democratic senator, in which he recalled taking a 536-mile ride from his home state of Delaware to Ohio in a ‘47,000 pound cargo truck’.
Biden wrote at the time: ‘I made the trip because I wanted a firsthand account from the truckers, who say they carry 50 per cent of all the goods shipped within the United States. They make a case worth listening to.’
In a news story about Biden’s journey, it is noted that he made the return journey back to Washington D.C. by plane.
Biden, who was elected to the senate at age 29, opened his Wednesday speech by joking with the audience ‘Well, I’m not going to say anything; I just came to drive a truck. And I’m not sure which one I want to drive. That one? There’s one back in the corner you can’t see. It’s the biggest damn pickup truck you ever saw in your life.’
In debunking Biden’s claim, Zach Parkinson, who is also the director of ‘RNC Research’, cited a 1973 opinion piece written by Biden, then a Democratic senator, in which he recalled taking a 536-mile ride from his home state of Delaware to Ohio in a ‘47,000 pound cargo truck’
Pictured: A newspaper clipping showing a story about Biden’s 550-mile truck ride
In the article about the truck ride, it was noted that his return journey to D.C. was by plane
He has previously driven Ford’s F-150 lightning pickup truck on May 18 during a visit to Dearborn, Michigan, electrical vehicle plant. This also resulted in claims that Biden wasn’t really driving the truck, although fact-checkers refuted this claim.
The president has previously faced criticism for embellishing his past, with claims about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement and working in coal mines coming under scrutiny.
Biden’s 1988 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination also came undone over claims he embellished biographical details for years, including misstatements about his academic record, according to the Washington Examiner.
When asked if the president had ever driven such a truck, a spokesperson from the White House pointed to the article about him riding in the 18-wheeler in 1973.
But when reporters pointed out the difference between riding in a truck and actually driving one, the president’s spokesperson pointed to Biden driving a school bus in the past as a summer job.
According to SchoolBusFleet.com, cited by Fox News, the majority of school bosses on average ‘have two axles, with the bigger models having two wheels on the front axle and four wheels on the dual axle, for a total of six wheels.’
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump was also a fan of large trucks, often posing in the driver’s seat for photographs, pretending to blow the horn.