The Washington Post’s Fact Checker column has decided not to make a call on President Joe Biden’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for much of the inflation Americans are forced to deal with.
Biden’s remarks came after the Labor Department on Tuesday said that at 8.5%, inflation jumped over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years.
In comments at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on Thursday, the president appeared to put much of the blame on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Post.
He said: "What people don’t know is that 70% of the increase in inflation was the consequence of Putin’s price hike because of the impact on oil prices. Seventy percent."
The Post column, written by Glenn Kessler noted: "Gasoline prices rose 48%, while overall energy prices rose 32%. Energy makes up only 7.547% of the basket of goods in the CPI [Consumer Price Index] so even with that big jump, how does Biden get to 70%? Without saying so directly, he’s referring to the monthly change in prices, not the annual change."
Still, the fact-checking team at the Post considered awarding Biden two Pinocchios for being less than factual.
"We were tempted to award two Pinocchios, essentially half true," the column said. "We certainly would be more comfortable if Biden had referred specifically to monthly inflation figures. But he did refer to the invasion that began 50 days ago. So we will leave this unrated and let readers decide for themselves."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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