Biden alleges Sanders campaign ‘doctored video’ to attack him on Social Security record

Former Vice President Joe Biden responded on Saturday to attacks on his record on Social Security from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign, saying that the video that was allegedly circulated by the progressive’s camp from 2018 was “doctored.” 

“Let’s get the record straight,” Biden told a crowd at Simpson College in Iowa. “There’s a little, doctored video going around … saying I agreed with Paul Ryan, the former vice presidential candidate, about wanting to privatize Social Security.”

However, the video that Biden is referencing – in which a clip of Biden’s 2018 remarks to the Brookings Institution is played – was not doctored, Politico reports.

PolitiFact confirmed that a recent campaign email sent by Sanders’ campaign that said, “Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare” was false, but said nothing about the video being falsified.

PolitiFact also stated that the video clip used by the Sanders campaign was taken out of context.

“The Sanders campaign plucked out what Biden said about Ryan, but ignored the complete passage which showed that Biden wanted Social Security and Medicare protected, and to accomplish that goal would require making changes to the tax code,” the fact-checker noted.

“The thrust of his point about the tax code was that he was saying it does too much to help the uber rich.”

Biden referenced PolitiFact Saturday, saying “PolitiFact looked at it and they doctored the photo, they doctored the piece and it’s acknowledged that it’s a fake.”

Biden then pivoted, saying that one of his plans seeks to raise Social Security spending. He also demanded that Sanders and his campaign apologize.

“It is simply a lie, that video that’s going around,” Biden said.

“This is a doctored tape. And I think it’s beneath him. And I’m looking for his campaign to come forward and disown it. But they haven’t done it yet.”

In response, Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir said, in a statement: “Joe Biden should be honest with voters and stop trying to doctor his own public record of consistently and repeatedly trying to cut Social Security.”

“The facts are very clear: Biden not only pushed to cut Social Security — he is on tape proudly bragging about it on multiple occasions.”

The most recent back-and-forth comes as the Sanders campaign called out the former vice president for his voting record on the Iraq War earlier this week. 

On Tuesday before the Democratic debate in Iowa, the Vermont senator’s camp released a video in which a clip from a CNN interview plays with Sanders saying, “Joe Biden voted and helped lead the effort for the war in Iraq, the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country.” 

The two Democratic primary frontrunners are in a tight race as the Iowa caucus approaches. A recent Monmouth poll has Biden leading the way in Iowa with 24 percent, while Sanders is in second at 18 percent.