Biden tells basketball picks joke at press conference for Colorado fire survivors, rehashes kitchen fire tall tale

Shore News Network

U.S. President Joe Biden visited Louisville, Colorado after over 1,000 homes were destroyed or damaged in a raging wildfire that swept through the region on December 30th. Biden opened his speech with a joke about picking basketball teams in the local gymnasium.

“Hey, folks.  We’re about to pick the basketball teams right now, so — (laughter).  I get first pick,” the President said.

“And, you know, 6,000 acres were wiped out here, over 1,000 structures.  But you know what I — Jill and I have noticed — what we’ve noticed in other places: the incredible courage and resolve that you all show,” Biden continued.

Biden later rehashed is now debunked tale that he lost 25% of his home after being struck by lightning. I turned out it was a small kitchen fire.


“So, we’re going to get through this together.  It’s easy for us to say.  Jill and I have not gone through what you’ve gone through, but we have had lightning strike our home and almost lose our home.  And we only lost about 25 percent of it; we were able to rebuild,” Biden said. “But, you know, the hard part is the thing — the memorabilia you lost, the special things that you had put away that you lost.”

Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the house, but were able to keep the flames from spreading beyond the kitchen, said Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn, according to a 2004 incident report of the fire.

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