CLAIM: During an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, President Joe Biden repeated a false claim that former President Donald Trump told people to “put bleach” in their arms.
VERDICT: FALSE. Trump was talking about experimental ultraviolet (UV) light technology and how it is used as a disinfectant and questioned whether it might be possible to “inject” into the human body.
During an interview with Stephanopolous on Friday, Biden claimed Trump was a “congenital liar” and referenced how Trump told people “to put bleach” in their arms in order to “deal with” COVID-19.
“The man is a congenital liar. As I said, they pointed out in that debate, he lied 27, 28 times. Whatever number, over 20 times,” Biden said. “Talk about how good his economy was, how he brought down inflation. This is a guy, who unlike all the other presidents, other than him is Hoover, lost more jobs than he created. This is a guy who told us to put bleach in our arms to deal with COVID. Over a million people died.”
President Biden: Trump is a congenital liar. They pointed out in that debate he lied 28 times. The only other president who lost more jobs than he created was Herbert Hoover. This is the guy who told us to put bleach in our arms to deal with COVID. Over a million people died. He… pic.twitter.com/FwIGnVCxiV
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) July 6, 2024
As Breitbart News has previously reported, the White House transcript showed that Trump never suggested people should inject bleach into their arms.
The White House transcript at the time showed that Trump said:
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, it you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous – whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light – and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.
ACTING UNDER SECRETARY BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it soundsd – it sounds interesting to me.
When asked if Trump had been referring to a disinfectant being “injected into a person,” Trump explained that “it wouldn’t be through injection.”
Though Trump never suggested people should inject bleach, several Democrats have continued to repeat this false claim.
In December 2021, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed Trump had told people to “inject bleach.” Former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed that Trump told people to “swallow Clorox.”
Biden has also repeated this false claim several times. During a fundraiser in San Francisco in May, Biden said he wished Trump had injected himself with bleach.
