Ten Biden whoppers: Afghanistan, COVID-19, national debt and the border

In just over eight months, President Joe Biden and his administration have been caught in a tangled web of broken promises, false assurances and fibs on a range of issues, including COVID-19, the southern border, the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the national debt. A short list of 10 of the most egregious examples follows:

1. No vaccine mandate:

Responding to a reporter's question at a July White House press briefing regarding the federal government potentially issuing a vaccine mandate, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that it was "not the role of the federal government; that is the role that institutions, private-sector entities, and others may take." Answering a previous question, Psaki said, "I don't think our role is to place blame" on unvaccinated people for putting others at risk of getting COVID-19.

However, Biden issued a vaccine mandate in September, blaming unvaccinated people for the continuing pandemic. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated," he said.

2. If vaccinated, then no masks required:

In May, Biden announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was "no longer recommending that fully vaccinated people need [to] wear masks." However, when Psaki was asked in late July about vaccinated people having to mask up again, she said that the CDC was revising its guidance because of the Delta variant.

3. The southern border is closed:

In March, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said to migrants: "The message is quite clear: Do not come. The border is closed, the border is secure. We are expelling families, we are expelling single adults under the CDC's authority under Title 42 of the United States Code because we are in the midst of a pandemic, and that is a public health imperative.

Despite this message, over a million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. from January to July, and more fentanyl has come into the country from October to June than all of the 2020 fiscal year.

In June, Vice President Kamala Harris blamed Trump's immigration policies, including the "Remain in Mexico" policy, for the border crisis. However, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that according to Border Patrol, the policy was effective and they warned the Biden administration of the problems rescinding the policy would cause.

4. Border Patrol whipped a Haitian migrant:

Following the release of photos and video of Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas on horseback keeping Haitian migrants from crossing the border and using reins to keep them at a safe distance from the horses, a reporter said in a White House press briefing that the agents were "seemingly using whips." Psaki said the footage was "horrible to watch" and she couldn't "imagine what the scenario is where that would be appropriate." She added, "Of course, they should never be able to do it again."

The day after the briefing, president of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, criticized Psaki's statements on the John Solomon Reports podcast, saying that the White House prejudged the situation. He explained that twirling the reins "is a legitimate law enforcement action" that keeps illegal immigrants away from the horses so they don't get hurt.

"Nobody was hit by those reins; they are not whips," Judd said. He added that the Biden administration had approved of "using the reins, to keep people away from the horses for their own protection."

White House and media accounts of the situation were "factually wrong, yes," he said. "And the White House knows that they're factually wrong."

The photographer who took the pictures of the agents that went viral said that he had "never seen" the agents "whip anyone." He added that a picture of an agent who was swinging a rope or rein could "be misconstrued when you're looking at the picture."

Three days after Psaki's comments, the Biden administration banned Border Patrol agents from using horses in Del Rio.

5. Trump didn't leave a plan for Afghanistan withdrawal:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Trump administration didn't leave behind a plan for withdrawing from Afghanistan. "We inherited a deadline, we did not inherit a plan," he said.

Kash Patel, who served on the Trump transition coordination team and as chief of staff to acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, told the John Solomon Reports podcast that what Blinken said was untrue.

"We actually did not leave them a deadline," he said. "It was a negotiation between the U.S. government, the Taliban, and the Afghans. And if that date was not to work for this incoming administration, they could have moved it. But what they chose to do was break the entire agreement."

Patel detailed a few main components of the complex plan that Trump left for his successor, including getting Americans out of Afghanistan before abandoning Bagram Air Base.

6. Taliban won't take power in Afghanistan quickly:

For months, the Biden administration assured Congress that Afghan government forces would be able to hold off the Taliban after the U.S. withdrawal. In July, Biden told reporters that it was not inevitable that Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban because there were more Afghan forces and they were "better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war."

Contrary to administration assurances, however, the terrorist organization rapidly swept to power in Afghanistan before American troops had even completed their withdrawal.

7. Military advisers didn't recommend leaving a force behind in Afghanistan:

In an Aug.18 interview on ABC, George Stephanopoulos asked Biden whether his military advisers had told him the U.S. "should just keep 2,500 troops" in-country beyond the withdrawal deadline to preserve what had been "a stable situation for the last several years." 

"No," Biden replied. "No one said that to me that I can recall."

However, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie all told the Senate Committee on Armed Services this week that they had advised Biden to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, based on the advice of Army Gen. Scott Miller, the last commander to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

8. Al Qaeda is gone from Afghanistan:

On Aug. 20, Biden told a reporter: "We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did."

However, that same day, Pentagon Press Secretary Jack Kirby said: "We know that Al-Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan and we've talked about that for quite some time. We do not believe it is exorbitantly high but we don't have an exact figure for you."

9. $3.5 trillion spending package costs $0, won't add to national debt:

"My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars," a post on Biden's Twitter account reads. "Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt."

The Biden administration claims that tax increases will offset the cost of the bill.

However, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated the $3.5 trillion bill could actually cost up to $5.5 trillion over 10 years.

David Ditch, a federal spending and fiscal policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said: "The $3.5 trillion in spending and tax credits combined with at least $2 trillion in tax hikes will add to the debt and have a tremendous cost to the economy and to the health of American families. The taxes will hit families taking home as little as $30,000 per year, violating President Biden's promise."

10. "Righteous" drone strike:

Milley initially called a drone strike that was intended to target ISIS-K terrorists "righteous."

"At this point, we think that the procedures were correctly followed and it was a righteous strike," he told reporters.

After investigating the strike, the military found that 10 civilians were actually killed in the drone strike, most of whom were children.