Biden Campaign Walks Back Claims of South Africa ‘Arrest’: ‘He Was Separated From His Party At The Airport’

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Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign is now walking back repeated claims that he was arrested in South Africa years ago, clarifying Tuesday that he was not arrested and instead “was separated from his party at the airport.”

The Biden campaign initially declined to address questions regarding the legitimacy of his statements after he made the claim at several recent campaign appearances.

Deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield clarified that Biden was referring to a time in which he was, “not allowed to go through the same door that the — the rest of the party he was with,” went through, adding, “Obviously, it was apartheid South Africa. There was a white door, there was a black door. He did not want to go through the white door and have the rest of the party go through the black door. He was separated. This was during a trip while they were there in Johannesburg.”

In a campaign appearance in South Carolina, Biden labeled the incident as an arrest instead of a separation, stating, “I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens Island.”

Andrew Young, the U.N. ambassador Biden was referring to, told the New York Times last week, “No, I was never arrested and I don’t think he was, either.”