Joe Biden delivered remarks on a Christmas for All Dinner in celebration of the Special Olympics in the East Room at the White House on Tuesday evening.
Biden told the special Olympic athletes a whopper of a lie about his grandfather.
“My grandfather Ambrose Finnegan was an All-American football player at Santa Clara…” Biden said.
Of course, this is completely made up.
WATCH:
Biden tells Special Olympics athletes his “grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, was an All-American football player at Santa Clara.”
(He made that up) pic.twitter.com/78K6GTeQXz
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 11, 2024
This is one of Biden’s favorite lies.
He has repeated this lie many times over the years.
During a speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2022, Joe Biden told the crowd his grandfather Ambrose Finnegan was an All-American football player.
“And let me tell you: I’m a proud Delawarean, but Pennsylvania is my native state,” Biden said.
“It’s in my heart. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be part of rebuilding this beautiful state,” he said. “My grandfather Finnegan from Scranton would really be proud of me right now. No, I’m not joking, he would.”
“By the way, he was an All-American football player, John, in Santa Clara,” he added.
Joe Biden claims his grandfather was an “All-American football player”
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 20, 2022
Newsweek debunked this lie:
“All-American” refers to an honorary title given to outstanding athletes competing at the collegiate level.
What we do know is that Ambrose Finnegan, Biden’s grandfather, did attend Santa Clara College, as acknowledged by the college itself and through grade records shared by the school.
Records place Ambrose’s date of birth between 1884-1885, meaning he’d have attended college around 1902, which appears to be supported by accounts from Santa Clara too.
In a piece for Santa Clara Magazine, the college’s archivist Sheila Conway added that “Ambrose Finnegan won a Distinguished Premium for the 3rd Class Bookkeeping, and a Premium for 3rd Class for the Best Kept Set of Books.”
An obituary also mentions that Ambrose was a “star athlete” and that he “gained nationwide recognition for his feats while quarterback of the Santa Clara football team.”
The record-keeping isn’t as consistent or authoritative for the All-American players list though. One list compiled by the National Collegiate Athletic Bureau does not feature Ambrose’s name. Indeed; the earliest All-American player at Santa Clara wasn’t recorded until 1938.
