Misleading: Biden Comments on White Supremacy

In a CNN townhall meeting, Biden was asked how his administration will respond to the threat of white supremacists and how this will differ from his predecessor. In response, the president said, “You see what’s happening the studies that are beginning to be done, maybe at your university as well, about the impact of former military, former police officers on the growth of white supremacy in some of these groups.”

Multiple right-wing news websites – most notably Breitbart – wrote articles about Biden’s statement. The articles assert that Biden said that former military and police officers are fueling white supremacy.

However, while the president’s comments are vague, Biden never said that former military and police officers are fueliing white supremacy. Rather, he said that they have an impact on white supremacy’s growth. This can be interpreted to mean many things. Biden could have been saying that white supremacists listen to police officers and veterans, so having them speak out against white supremacy could have a big effect. This is just speculation, but so too is interpreting his comment as an insult to veterans and police officers. 

Since Biden's statement could be interpreted in a variety of ways, we rate this claim as misleading.