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Joe Biden said he commuted by train and car as a senator, including over the Baltimore Key Bridge

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP)

By Ciara O'Rourke March 27, 2024

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President Joe Biden has a history of commuting by car and rail from his home in Delaware to Washington, D.C.
In comments following the disaster, Biden said he had been over the Francis Scott Key Bridge “many times commuting from the state of Delaware either on a train or by car.”
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President Joe Biden came under criticism following his remarks about the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

"#BREAKING," read a screenshot of an X post shared on Facebook on March 26. "Joe Biden says he’s commuted over the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore many times via train. The problem is that the bridge features no train tracks."

Some news coverage also focused on Biden’s comments about taking trains. And former President Donald Trump’s campaign cited it as evidence that "Biden (confused — again) claims to have gone over the Francis Scott Key Bridge by train ‘many times.’"

Before it collapsed, the four-lane bridge spanned 1.6 miles — and, no, the bridge does not have train tracks.

But these social media posts did not present Biden’s full statement that allowed for some ambiguity; he mentioned commuting by car.

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Here’s what he said March 26 at the White House: "At about 1:30, a container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which I’ve been over many, many times commuting from the state of Delaware either on a train or by car."

The White House clarified Biden’s comments to the New York Post, which ran a story headlined: "Biden claims he commuted over collapsed Baltimore Key Bridge by train’ many times’ — but it doesn’t have any rail lines."

"The President is clearly describing driving over the bridge while commuting between Delaware and (Washington) D.C. during his 36-year Senate career," the New York Post quoted White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson saying in a statement.

Biden has a long history of commuting to the capital.

On the White House website, a section recounting the president’s history says that after he was sworn into the U.S. Senate, he "began commuting from Wilmington to Washington every day, first by car, and then by train, in order to be with his family. He would continue to do so throughout his time in the Senate."

In 2023, The Associated Press called him "arguably the nation’s biggest Amtrak fan."

PBS NewsHour said in 2021 that, as a senator, Biden "was a fixture on Amtrak trains between his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and Washington, D.C., when the Senate was in session. He continued riding Amtrak as vice president. He has sometimes been referred to as ‘Amtrak Joe.’"