Joe Biden mocked Donald Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic at a fundraiser on March 21, suggesting the former president "injected bleach" to fight the virus.
Speaking to donors during a stop in Houston, Biden harked back to the early days of the pandemic. The nation was in lockdown, hospitals were struggling to cope with admissions and misinformation about COVID-19 was rife on social media.
"Just a few days ago, [Donald Trump] asked a famous question in one of his rallies: Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" the 81-year-old told the crowd.
"Well, Donald, I'm glad you asked that question, man. I hope everyone in the country takes a moment to think back what it was like in March of 2020," he added.
The president criticized his Republican rival's leadership during the crisis, referencing reports that Trump told Americans to drink or inject bleach to treat COVID-19.
"Remember when he said inject bleach?" Biden continued. "I think he must've done it."
Newsweek has reached out to Joe Biden via contact form.
In a statement shared by email, a representative for Donald Trump told Newsweek: "Crooked Joe Biden continues to show how mentally unfit he is to be president every single day."
Although the audience was amused, Trump didn't exactly tell people to ingest bleach.
During a White House press conference in April 2020, William Bryan, a former senior official at the Department of Homeland Security who performed the duties of the undersecretary for science and technology, presented a study that showed cleaning agents could kill the virus on surfaces.
Trump asked Bryan if the chemicals could be harnessed to combat infections in humans.
The 77-year-old said: "I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that so that you're going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me."
After a journalist quizzed Bryan on whether cleaning agents could be injected into people testing positive for the virus, Trump said: "It wouldn't be through injection. We're talking about through almost a cleaning, sterilization of an area.
"Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work. But it certainly has a big effect if it's on a stationary object."
On March 12, Trump and Biden won enough primaries to lead their parties in November's general election, confirming that they would go head-to-head once again.
With both candidates back on the campaign trail, polls have so far favored Biden. Although it's a close call between the duo, with Biden only marginally leading over the business mogul.
Update 03/22/24 09:24 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from a spokesperson for Donald Trump.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Sophie is a Newsweek Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in Lincoln, UK. Her focus is reporting on film and ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
