During his trip to meet with Maui wildfire survivors, President Joe Biden attempted to commiserate with the people of Lahaina by describing the time he experienced a kitchen fire.
On Monday, Biden said, “I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense — Jill and I — what it’s like to lose a home.”
“Years ago now — 15 years ago — I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press.’ It was a sunny Sunday and lightning struck at home on a little lake that is outside of our home — not on a lake, a big pond,” he went on.
“And it hit a wire and came up underneath our home into the heating ducts, air conditioning ducts. And to make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette and my cat,” he concluded.
Biden tells Maui wildfire victims, "I don't want to compare difficulties, but…" then tells a made up story about losing his house to a fire.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 22, 2023
According to a 2004 AP report, it was “a small fire…contained to the kitchen” that “was under control in 20 minutes.” pic.twitter.com/DNY0Tyatg7
While the 2004 fire did occur at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del., the Associated Press reported at the time that the small fire was contained in the kitchen and quickly put out within 20 minutes.
By contrast, the Maui wildfire wreckage is still being searched for bodies. In an interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ Sunday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green confirmed that over 1,000 people remain unaccounted for and that “it will take several weeks” to identify the remains of all the recovered bodies.
He also noted, “We do have extreme concerns that because of the temperature of the fire, the remains of those who have died, in some cases, may be impossible to recover meaningfully. So there are going to be people that are lost forever.”
Local KITV4 News has reported that 115 people are now confirmed victims of the Maui wildfires.
IJR reported Biden’s response to the natural disaster has received harsh criticism after he initially gave a “no comment” response and went to Lake Tahoe to vacation just after the city of Lahaina burned down.