Biden draws criticism as he repeats false claim that son Beau died in Iraq: ‘Continued mangling of the truth’

President Joe Biden told Marines during a stop in Japan that his son Beau died in Iraq, according to a video obtained by the New York Post. 

“My son was a major in the US Army. We lost him in Iraq,” the 80-year-old president said during an exchange with troops at Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan on Thursday. The president visited Japan this month for the G7 Leaders’ summit. 

Biden’s son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the Walter Reed military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The president himself has said on different occasions that Beau’s death from cancer as caused by “burn pits” in Iraq, a subject on which he signed legislation in 2022. 

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Biden is drawing criticism from media online, with even liberal outlet Daily Beast writing that the president has “puzzlingly” made similar statements about Beau “several times in the past” in a story published Monday. 

Contributing editor at The Spectator, Stephen L. Miller, pointed out that Biden — already the oldest serving president in history — is running for reelection in 2024. 

“It’s just a stutter. He’s fine. Running for re-election.”

Another story from a RedState contributor argued that Beau’s death, which “certainly must have been traumatic for Biden” still does not “excuse Joe’s continued mangling of the truth.”

The president also drew attention at the G7 summit in Japan when he told a reporter at the conference to “shush up” when asked about the debt ceiling debate in Congress. 

That was one of a few awkward moments that Biden experienced during his time in Japan, also calling South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, whom he has met before, “Loon” and using the wrong title for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, calling him “president.” 

Biden made the same false claim about his son Beau in 2022, telling a crowd in Colorado that Beau “lost his life in Iraq.”

“I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq,” Biden said during a speech near Vail, Colorado, where he designated Camp Hale as a national monument.

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Biden also referenced his son in a 2019 speech: “[Because] of exposure to burn pits, in my view — I can’t prove it yet — he came back with stage four glioblastoma. Eighteen months he lived, knowing he was going to die.” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for clarification on Biden’s comment. 

After Biden’s Japan trip, he faces another battle in Congress with Republicans over the debt ceiling. He has taken flack for claiming that he would use the 14th amendment to avoid making a deal with House GOP members over the debt ceiling.

Fox News’ Adam Sabes and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.