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The False And Misleading Claims President Biden Made During His First 100 Days In Office

"Under the previous administration, the federal government contracts awarded directly to foreign companies went up 30 percent. That is going to change on our watch."
Jan. 25

"When I took office three weeks ago, America didn't have a plan or enough supplies to vaccinate most of the country."
Feb. 11

"What I'm worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It's sick. It's sick ... deciding that you're going to end voting at five o'clock when working people are just getting off work."
March 25

"I have the list of exactly how many have died: 547,296 Americans dead from the virus - more than all the people killed in World War One, World War Two, the Vietnam War, 9/11. 547,296 Americans."
March 31

"Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs - good jobs, blue-collar jobs, jobs that pay well."
April 2

"Most people don't know, you walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want and no background check."

Among the most notable falsehoods of President Biden's first 100 days in office was his claim - which he made three times - that Georgia's controversial Republican-backed election law had shortened voting hours.

The claim was one of two uttered by Biden to earn the Fact Checker's "Four Pinocchio" rating, reserved for whoppers - the other being his wildly off-base statement, borrowed from the campaign, that federal contracts "awarded directly to foreign companies" rose by 30 percent under President Donald Trump.

More typical for Biden, when he uttered a false statement, was some subtle truth-stretching.

He spun that if Congress passed his infrastructure plan, "the economy" would create 19 million additional jobs; only 2.7 million of those jobs could be attributed to the proposal itself. He asserted that as vice president he helped craft an $800 billion strategy to help Central America; it was $750 million.

Through April 29, his 100th day, Biden has made 78 false or misleading statements, according to a Washington Post Fact Checker analysis of every speech, interview, tweet or public statement made by the president. That compares to 511 such statements in Trump's first 100 days.

Misleading claims in the first 100 days

In compiling the database of Biden's claims in his first 100 days, The Fact Checker used the same methodology as the Trump database that counted more than 30,000 claims over the course of Trump's presidency. Any statement that would merit at least Two Pinocchios - essentially "half true" - was included. Any claim that was repeated was also included, though unlike Trump, Biden generally does not repeat his false claims if they have been fact-checked as false.

Biden's relatively limited number of falsehoods is a function, at least in part, of the fact that his public appearances consist mostly of prepared texts vetted by his staff. He devotes little time to social media, in contrast to his Twitter-obsessed predecessor, and rarely faces reporters or speaks off the cuff.

His press secretary, Jen Psaki, holds lengthy daily briefings with the media, and Cabinet secretaries also speak on Biden's behalf.

All told, through April 29, according to a count by Factba.se, Biden spoke about 30 percent fewer words than Trump and tweeted 65 percent fewer times. He gave only seven interviews, compared to 22 for Trump, and held only two news conferences, compared to nine for Trump.

Almost 100 of Trump's claims came from tweets; only one of Biden's tweets was deemed false or misleading. Trump made 56 suspect statements at campaign rallies; Biden held only one campaign rally - on his 100th day - where he made one suspect claim.

How Biden and Trump communicated publicly in the first 100 days

About one-eighth of Biden's false or misleading claims on the list relate to the Georgia voting law, which Democrats charge is part of a GOP effort to seize on Trump's bogus claims of election fraud to justify the disenfranchisement of minorities.

Biden's claim that the measure shortened voting hours drew sharp criticism from Republicans, who accused Democrats of lying about the bill. In reality, Election Day hours were not changed and the opportunities to cast a ballot in early voting were expanded.

Biden aides never provided an explanation for why Biden made this statement - or why it was even repeated in an official statement issued by the White House.

Biden has also made some other exaggerated claims about the Georgia law, such as calling it "Jim Crow on steroids." He was referring to a system that, before passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, systematically denied Black Americans their constitutional right to vote through "literacy tests," poll taxes and other measures. But the law does not put up roadblocks to Black Americans registering to vote.

While Biden exaggerated at times, he often recalibrated his wording in response to news coverage. For instance, he claimed that reporters had said he was "crazy" when he announced a goal of 100 million vaccine shots in 100 days. That was a stretch, as reporters instead had written it was ambitious and potentially difficult. After fact checks appeared, Biden switched to simply saying reporters said the goal was "ambitious."

He pitched his infrastructure plan with a finely tuned claim that "Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs." While the analysis, by Moody's Analytics, did make that prediction, it attributed only 2.7 million of those additional jobs to the plan itself; most of the other jobs would have been created anyway, with or without the plan. After a flurry of fact checks, the White House dropped the talking point and simply started saying the plan would create "millions" of jobs.

Biden has said he ignores Trump, but the former president seems to be ever- present at times in Biden's mind - and, on occasion, the current president will use exaggerated rhetoric to draw a contrast.

During a news conference, Biden claimed, without apparent evidence, that children "starved to death" in Mexico under Trump's 2019 policy allowing border officers to return non-Mexican asylum seekers to locations in Mexico as their claims are adjudicated in immigration courts.

When Biden addressed the pandemic, he also pushed the envelope sometimes to favorably contrast himself with Trump. He said, "When I took office three weeks ago, America didn't have a plan or enough supplies to vaccinate most of the country," and that Trump had failed to order enough vaccine doses. In reality, the Trump administration had options in place to buy more vaccines. The Biden team had to fill in the blanks of the plan and it sped up the tempo, but it was wrong to say there was no plan.

At another point, he said: "When I took office 50 days ago, only 8 percent of Americans after months, only 8 percent of those over the age of 65 had gotten their first vaccination. Today, that number is 65 percent." When Biden took office, vaccinations had only been given for about a month, not "months." Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, front- line essential workers and people 75 and older were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been vaccinated.

A number of Biden's statements were flubs. For instance, he said Hispanics were the fastest-growing immigrant population, when their rate of growth has been overtaken by that of Asian Americans in the past decade.

Five times, Biden oddly claimed that more Americans had died from the coronavirus than from all of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined (sometimes he added in the Sept. 11 attacks as well). But the number of in-service deaths during World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined adds up to about 580,000 deaths, which was more than the covid-19 deaths at the time. The White House initially said the president intended to refer to combat deaths, but that made little sense because then he actually could have said more people have died of covid-19 than in combat during all of America's wars against foreign enemies.

Perhaps the strangest claim made by Biden - which he said twice as president - was that he had "traveled 17,000 miles with" Chinese President Xi Jinping when they were both vice presidents. Biden certainly met with him a lot - but the White House conceded that "traveled with" was not accurate. Moreover, no matter how generously the travel was measured, it never added up to 17,000 miles. How Biden made this calculation - which he also said at least once during the campaign - remains a mystery.

Explore all of Biden's false or misleading claims

Claims are included if they would receive two or more Pinocchios on the Fact Checker scale. Repeats of the same claim are included.

April 29 - Full transcript

"All America wants to thank you, because here's what we mean by delivering for the people. We created in the first hundred days. 1,300,000 new jobs - 1,300.000 jobs in one hundred days. That's more new jobs in the first hundred days of any president in history.""

Analysis: This number probably understates how many jobs have been created in the first 100 days - the job figures for April have not been released - but Biden is giving too much credit to his administration, especially when he compares himself to the first 100 days of other presidents. The economy was already rebounding from the pandemic, and left unsaid was that the economy still has almost 7 million fewer jobs than when the pandemic struck. At The Fact Checker, we are dubious about the practice of measuring job growth by presidential term. Presidents do not create jobs; companies and consumers do.

Topic: JobsSource: Campaign Rally

Also repeated:April 28

April 29Full transcript

"That's the reason why it's recovering, because we are investing. Look how rapidly it's recovered since we passed the last piece of legislation. And that legislation was $1.9 trillion."

Analysis: Biden gives too much credit for recent economic growth the his coronavirus relief pacakge that passed in March. Trump signed a big bill in December as well, providing $600 checks to Americans, which is reflected in the strong economic numbers of the first quarter. The full impact of Biden's bill will not be felt until later this year.

Topic: EconomySource: Interview

April 29Full transcript

"They [Trump administration] didn't plan for, which it comes every year, this flow, whether it is 22,000 or 10,000 - they didn't have the beds that were available. They didn't plan for the overflow. They didn't plan for the Department of Health and Human Services to have places to take the kids from the border patrol and put them in beds where there were security and there were people who could take care of them."

Analysis: Biden tries to pin the blame on Trump for the number of beds available for migrant children without acknowledging that his own policies helped spur an increase that his administration did not prepare for. Under Trump, there was a peak of about 16,000 beds in August 2019, but after Trump imposed new policies after the pandemic struck, shelter capacity went down to 7,700 beds in part because of social distancing protocols. Biden repealed Trump's policies before the government had enough time to bolster bed capacity. The number of children in care was about 3,600 in January 2021, according to government figures.

Topic: ImmigrationSource: Interview

April 28Full transcript

"Secretary Blinken can tell you, I spent a lot of time with President Xi - traveled over 17,000 miles with him."

Analysis: This was a strange claim - and it was a comment Biden also made during the campaign. But it did not add up. During the Obama administration, it became clear that Xi Jinping, then the vice president, was in line to become the next leader of China. He was largely a mystery to U.S. officials, so Biden was assigned the task of getting to know him. In 2011, Biden traveled to China and over the course of three days met with Xi in various settings. They had a bilateral meeting and formal dinner in Beijing on Aug. 18, co-hosted a business dialogue on Aug. 19 and then visited the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province, along with a high school about 50 miles away in an area where a 2008 earthquake had left 86,000 people dead or missing. They also had a lengthy dinner together in Chengdu. Afterward, Biden flew on to Mongolia. In 2012, Xi visited the United States. On Feb. 14, Biden and Xi gathered at the White House for meetings, including with President Barack Obama, had lunch at the State Department, conducted a business roundtable and finally had dinner at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory. Xi then traveled elsewhere in the United States, including Iowa, before arriving in Los Angeles. Biden flew to Los Angeles to meet Xi there on Feb. 17; they had dinner, among other events. A White House official conceded that Biden's line of "traveling with" Xi is not accurate. "This was a reference to the total travel back and forth - both internally in the U.S. and China, and as well as internationally - for meetings they held together," he said. "Some travel was in parallel, some was separately to joint destinations." But try as we could, however, we still could not get the travel to add up to anything close to 17,000 miles. Read the full fact check.

Fact Checker rating:

Topic: Foreign policySource: Prepared Speech

Also repeated:Feb. 16Feb. 5

April 28Full transcript

"In the process, while this was all going on, the economy created more than 1,300,000 new jobs in 100 days - more jobs in the first 100 days than any president on record."

Analysis: This number probably understates how many jobs have been created in the first 100 days - the job figures for April have not been released - but Biden is giving too much credit to his administration, especially when he compares himself to the first 100 days of other presidents. The economy was already rebounding from the pandemic, and left unsaid was that the economy still has almost 7 million fewer jobs than when the pandemic struck. At The Fact Checker, we are dubious about the practice of measuring job growth by presidential term. Presidents do not create jobs; companies and consumers do. Topic: JobsSource: Prepared Speech
Also repeated:April 29

April 28Full transcript

"When I was sworn in on January 20th, less than 1 percent of the seniors in America were fully vaccinated against covid-19. One hundred days later, 70 percent of seniors in America over 65 are protected - fully protected." Analysis: This is a misleading statistic. When Biden took office, vaccinations had only been given for about a month. Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75 were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been fully vaccinated. Biden offers various versions of this statistic; we are including statements when he specifically notes the percentage on the date he took office.

Topic: CoronavirusSource: Prepared Speech

Also repeated:April 27April 21April 6March 29March 11

April 28Full transcript

"Over 11 million undocumented folks - the vast majority are here overstaying visas."

Analysis: Biden, in an ad-lib in his address to Congress, said most undocumented migrants are people who enter the United States legally and then overstay their visas, a phenomenon involving air travelers from Asia or Europe, rather than Spanish-speaking migrants trekking to the border. He's not totally off base, but was wrong to say the "vast majority" overstayed their visas. Government statistics and independent studies show that in recent years, visa overstays have in fact outpaced migrations from unauthorized border-crossings. In fiscal 2017, the Department of Homeland Security reported 606,926 suspected in-country overstays, or twice the number of southern border apprehensions. In fiscal 2016, U.S. officials reported 408,870 southern border apprehensions and 544,676 suspected in-country overstays. The Center for Migration Studies of New York, a think tank, found in a recent study that visa overstays "significantly exceeded" border-crossing migrations for the seventh straight year in 2017. The issue here is that Biden was speaking about the entire undocumented population accumulated over time. He didn't limit his comments to the migration dynamics seen in recent years. When looking comprehensively across decades, border- crossings are still the top driver of undocumented migration. In fact, the recent surge at the border in 2019 and in Biden's early months may have substantially changed the percentages.

Topic: ImmigrationSource: Prepared Speech

Also repeated:Feb. 16

April 28Full transcript

"When I was vice president, the president asked me to focus on providing the help needed to address the root causes of migration. And it helped keep people in their own countries instead of being forced to leave. The plan was working, but the last administration decided it was not worth it."

Analysis: Trump cut the budget for the program, U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America, but he did not eliminate it, according to the Congressional Research Service. Spending fell from a high of $750 million under President Barack Obama to $506 million in fiscal 2021. The Trump administration suspended most foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras while it sought agreements on migrants and asylum-seekers, but eventually the aid was restored.

Topic: Foreign policySource: Prepared Speech

Also repeated:March 25March 24

April 28Full transcript

"Talk to most responsible gun owners and hunters. They'll tell you there's no possible justification for having 100 rounds in a weapon. What do you think - deer are wearing Kevlar vests? They'll tell you that there are too many people today who are able to buy a gun but shouldn't be able to buy a gun."

Analysis: Numerous surveys show that a vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, support enhanced background checks. But Biden went too far in claiming that "most" gun owners also support a ban on large-capacity magazines. Gun owners are divided. In a 2019 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, 47 percent of gun owners supported such a ban while 50 percent were against it. A 2019 Washington Post/ABC News poll found 48 percent support and 48 percent against, and a 2017 Pew Research poll found only 44 percent support.

Topic: GunsSource: Prepared Speech

April 28Full transcript

"There's a broad consensus of economists - left, right, center - and they agree that what I'm proposing will help create millions of jobs and generate historic economic growth."

Analysis: There is also a consensus of economists left, right and center who have expressed disapproval of Biden's policies. The response has not been universal praise as Biden suggests. Some of Biden's critics, from all idelologies, have expressed concern about the possible inflationary impact of his many spending proposals. Others have concluded the tax increases will be a drag on long-term economic growth.

Topic: EconomySource: Prepared Speech

April 27Full transcript

"Less than 1 percent of seniors were fully vaccinated when I took office. Today, in less than 100 days, more than 67 percent two thirds of our seniors are now fully vaccinated.

Analysis: This is a misleading statistic. When Biden took office, vaccinations had only been given for about a month. Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75 were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been fully vaccinated. Biden offers various versions of this statistic; we are including statements when he specifically notes the percentage on the date he took office.

Topic: CoronavirusSource: Remarks

Also repeated:April 28April 21April 6March 29March 11

April 21Full transcript

"When I took office, 8 percent of the people over 65 had received their first shot."

Analysis: This is a misleading statistic. When Biden took office, vaccinations had only been given for about a month. Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75 were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been vaccinated. Biden offers various versions of this statistic; we are including statements when he specifically notes the percentage on the date he took office.

Topic: CoronavirusSource: Remarks

Also repeated:April 28April 27April 6March 29March 11

April 17Full transcript

"The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people. We couldn't do two things at once."

Analysis: After initially indicating he would raise the refugee cap to 62,500 in fiscal 2021, Biden pulled back after an unexpected surge of migrants at the southern border. He may have been worried about the political optics, but experts said that conflating the refugee problem with the migrant problem is misleading. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has been strained by the migrant surge, but when it comes to refugees, the agency is mainly a funding vehicle for nonprofit organizations that handle the settlement of refugees throughout the country. The Trump administration closed resettlement offices, but those would be reopened if the Biden administration turned on the funding spigot again by lifting the refugee cap.

Topic: ImmigrationSource: Remarks

April 16Full transcript

"The folks who own weapons, the folks who own guns, they support universal background checks. The majority of them think we should not be selling assault weapons."

Analysis: Numerous surveys show that a vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, support enhanced background checks. But Biden went too far in claiming that a majority of gun owners also support a ban on assault weapons. The White House could not point to a poll that supported the claim, while a 2019 Washington Post poll found that a narrow majority of gun owners opposed it. Read the full fact check.

Fact Checker rating:

Topic: GunsSource: News Conference

April 12Full transcript

"This is a moment for American strength and American unity; for government, industries, communities to work together to make sure that we're ready to meet the global competition that lies ahead, not continuing to slide in terms of our investment. We're ranked, like, number 25th in the world now. That's not American."

Analysis: Biden knocks the United States down a few pegs. The United States actually ranks 13th for infrastructure, according to the global competitiveness rankings by the World Economic Forum. But even that figure is still a bit misleading as the ranking lacks context. "Of the 12 economies the WEF ranked ahead of the United States in 2019, three - Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates - are tiny coastal city-states. It's patently spurious to compare their infrastructure challenges with those of the United States," noted Washington Post columnist Charles Lane. "Among the 10 geographically largest countries, including Canada, Australia, China and Russia, the United States places first, based on WEF criteria. The United States is also top among the 10 most populous countries." If one considered the European countries as a single unit, given many share infrastructure costs, the United States would rank fifth.

Topic: EconomySource: Remarks

April 9Full transcript

"The average rapist rapes about six times."

Analysis: Biden is relying on a figure for college rapists that is derived from a 2002 study that has come under fire from sexual-assault experts. Other peer- reviewed studies have come up with lower figures, though again they are generally in the college context. Several experts called on Biden to withdraw his statement. Obviously, The Fact Checker cannot litigate the debate between the study's author and his critics. But the White House should be aware of the dispute and be more cautious about validating a statistic that may or may not be correct. Otherwise, Biden may be perpetuating misinformation. Ordinarily, given the academic dispute, we'd consider this a Two-Pinocchio claim. But because the president turned a study about campus rape into a statistic about the average rapist, he earns Three Pinocchios. Read the full fact check.

Fact Checker rating:

Topic: MiscellaneousSource: Remarks

April 8Full transcript

"Most people don't know, you walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want and no background check."

Analysis: Biden's phrasing can leave the impression that no background checks are required at gun shows. But a person at a gun show engaged in the business of selling guns needs a Federal Firearms License (FFL) and must conduct background checks and file substantial paperwork. Gun dealers who pretend to be gun hobbyists but actively trade guns at gun shows are prosecuted. Studies suggest most sales at gun shows are made by licensed retailers. In fact, the Congressional Research Service, after examining several studies, including a 2016 survey of where federal and state prisoners obtained the firearms used in their crimes, concluded in 2019: "Private firearms sales at gun shows or any similar venue did not appear to be a significant source of guns carried by these offenders, while private transfers among family members, friends, and acquaintances did appear to account for a significant source of such
firearms." The White House said that Biden was not saying that every gun at gun shows was sold without backgrou
nd checks, but simply that a person can buy a gun from unlicensed sellers at gun shows who sell guns without background checks or any paperwork that would document the transaction. Read the full fact check.

Fact Checker rating:

Topic: GunsSource: Remarks

April 8Full transcript

"The only industry in America, a billion-dollar industry, that can't be sued, has been exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers."

Analysis: The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), signed by President George W. Bush in 2005, generally shields gun manufacturers and dealers from having to face lawsuits over violent crimes committed with the weapons they sell. The law comes with six exceptions, however, so Biden is wrong to claim that the gun industry is totally immune. One exception applies when "a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought." The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that gun manufacturer Remington Arms could be sued under this exception for potentially violating the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act. The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to review the ruling, meaning it stands as the law in Connecticut.

Topic: GunsSource: Remarks

April 8Full transcript

"States that have red-flag laws have seen a reduction in the number of suicides in their states."

Analysis: Biden is referring to extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, which authorize the removal of firearms from people determined by a court to be at risk for committing gun violence. But a 2020 Rand Corporation review of gun studies found that it was too soon to make such a sweeping claim. "Although the findings for Indiana's law are suggestive, considering the strength of this evidence and potential issues of generalizability, we find inconclusive evidence for the effect of extreme risk protection orders on total and firearm suicides," the report said.

Topic: GunsSource: Remarks

April 6Full transcript

"More than 75 percent of the people over the age of 65 have gotten shots, up from 8 percent when we took office. That's a dramatic turnaround and critical because seniors account for 80 percent of all covid deaths."

Analysis: This is a misleading statistic. When Biden took office, vaccinations had only been given for about a month. Moreover, health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, frontline essential workers and people over the age of 75 were in line to be the first to be vaccinated, which is why a relatively small percentage of people over 65 had been vaccinated. Biden offers various versions of this statistic; we are including statements when he specifically notes the percentage on the date he took office.

Topic: CoronavirusSource: Remarks

Also repeated:April 28April 27April 21March 29March 11

April 2Full transcript

"Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs - good jobs, blue-collar jobs, jobs that pay well."

Analysis: Biden's finely tuned talking point can leave a misleading impression. The Moody's Analytics report offered three scenarios for job growth: with no government intervention, with just the American Rescue Plan, and with both the American Rescue Plan and the American Jobs Plan, the moniker for the infrastructure proposal. With the AJP, the economy will create 18.96 million jobs between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2030, but if the infrastructure plan was not passed, the economy would create 16.3 million jobs in that time period. As a result of the infrastructure plan, almost 2.7 million additional jobs would be created over 10 years, the report says. Biden carefully does not say the infrastructure plan would create 19 million jobs; instead, he says the economy would create that many jobs if the plan was passed. That language is just on the edge of being technically correct, but some listeners will come to believe that the infrastructure bill would create 19 million jobs all by itself. Read the full fact check.

Fact Checker rating:

Topic: EconomySource: Remarks

April 2Full transcript

"Raising taxes, the studies show, will not slow the economy at all. Asking corporate America just to pay their fair share will not slow the economy at all. It will make the economy function better and will create more energy".

Analysis: Biden may be right in the long run, but he cannot make such a definitive statement. His proposed corporate tax increases will initially slow economic growth, according to the same Moody's Analytics report the president cites for his 19 million jobs estimate. The report predicts that growth will slow slightly in early 2022, trimming about 22,000 jobs, as the impact of Biden's proposed tax increases are felt before infrastructure spending really gets started later that year. Moreover, the Penn-Wharton Budget model concluded that the combination of tax increases and additional government debt incurred by the plan would slow economic growth slightly, leaving the economy 0.8 percent smaller in 2050 than it otherwise would have been.

Topic: TaxesSource: Remarks

March 31Full transcript

"I have the list of exactly how many have died: 547,296 Americans dead from the virus - more than all the people killed in World War One, World War Two, the Vietnam War, 9/11. 547,296 Americans."

Analysis: The number of in-service deaths during World War I, World War II and Vietnam War combined adds up to about 580,000 deaths. When we first looked into this, a White House official told The Fact Checker that the president intended to refer to combat deaths in World War I, World War II and Vietnam, which we noted is under 400,000, but he inadvertently omitted that qualifier in his

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