The Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during a campaign stop in Warren, Michigan on Wednesday grossly misstated the number of military members killed by Covid-19 was 6,000 when in reality it is only seven.
The Biden campaign told Fox News that the former vice president confused the number of Covid deaths in the military with those for the state of Michigan, saying the armed forces had seen 118,984 cases and 6,114 deaths.
“Vice President Biden has the utmost respect for the men and women of the armed services and believes it’s the sacred duty of our country to properly equip them, look after their families when they’re deployed, and care for them when they return,” Biden’s rep Michael Gwin said in a statement to Fox
“To honor their service, the Vice President carries with him each day a card detailing the number of Americans who have given their lives for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, and frequently cites that number to recognize their sacrifice.”
This is not the first major numerical blunder by Biden, in June, the presidential candidate incorrectly said 120 million people in the country had died from the coronavirus. At the time the number was about 120,000.
President Trump’s campaign was quick to jump on Biden’s verbal slip-up and use it as evidence that the Democratic candidate was “confused” and “not playing with a full deck.”