Biden, 81, repeats debunked claim that he was ‘first in his family to go to college’: Joe brings back braggadocio in Wisconsin student loan speech … despite boasting that his grandfather was an ‘All-American football player’ used to be

President Joe Biden repeated a previously debunked claim that he was the first in his family to attend college during a student loan speech on Monday in Wisconsin, after being called out for the claim in the past.

“I, like many people in this audience, was the first in my family to go to college and watched my father struggle to help me get there,” Biden said in Madison as he touted his new executive actions to reduce student loans. for millions of Americans.

He has made the claim before, including during his 2020 campaign. Donald Trump’s campaign labeled it inaccurate at the time, as it did in a much more serious incident when he borrowed language from British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock in 1987 that helped end his presidential campaign.

In that speech he said he was “the first in his family to ever go to college,” in language closely matching Kinnock’s, as part of a longer passage. Biden then told the New York Times, “There are Finnegans, my mother’s family, who went to college,” acknowledging the mistake.

“The president is proud to be the first Biden to earn a college degree,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

The 81-year-old Biden again spoke during his speech Monday about his grandfather being an “All-American football player,” a line that itself refers to his ancestor’s time in college, although the title “All- Ameican’ has not yet been determined.

But there are also problems with stories. A AP fact check discovered that Biden’s grandfather Ambrose Finnegan attended Santa Clara College. That would have happened around 1902. An obituary called him a “star athlete” who quarterbacked the team, but did not establish that he was an All-American in college. (It did claim that he “may have been an All-American player in some other way.”)

The comments were picked up by Republicans, who accused him of “lying.” The comments came in a speech in which Biden promised “life-changing relief” for 30 million borrowers as Biden reaches out to young voters in a battleground state he carried in 2020 and fends off Trump in a rematch.

More than 48,000 Democrats voted “uninstructed” last week, which is more than twice his margin of victory in 2020.

Biden made the comment about his background in a speech to students in Madison, Wisconsin

Biden grandfather Ambrose Finnegan was a librarian who worked in the newspaper business after being a “star athlete” at Santa Clara College in California

He said he would “give everyone a fair chance” and the “freedom to pursue their dreams,” on a day he announced plans to wipe out debt, including for millions whose student loans on principle had grown bigger than they were then They first took out debt loans years ago.

“Even if they work hard and pay off their student loans, their debt gets bigger, not smaller,” Biden said. “Too many people are feeling the strain and stress, wondering if they can get married, have their first child, have a family, because even if they make ends meet, they still have crushing, crushing debt.”