Was Biden's uncle eaten by cannibals in World War Two? Military records reveal ... trends now
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged questions Thursday on whether President Joe Biden's uncle was actually eaten by cannibals during World War II.
The president made the bold claim Wednesday during his trip to his birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania, finding the name of his uncle, 'Ambrose Finnegan,' on the town's World War II memorial wall.
Biden said Finnegan's plane was 'shot down' despite military records saying the airplane suffered engine failure, while also pushing that his uncle was the plane's pilot, when he was a passenger instead.
The president claimed that 'Uncle Bosie,' as he was called 'got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals at the time. They never recovered his body.'
On board Air Force One Thursday, reporters tried several times to get Jean-Pierre to acknowledge the meat of the cannibal controversy, which she never did.
On Thursday White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't answer questions about the veracity of a story told by President Joe Biden (left) - that his late uncle Ambrose Finnegan (right) was eaten by cannibals during World War II
President Joe Biden reaches to touch the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall at a Scranton war memorial on Wednesday in Scranton. Biden said Finnegan's plane was 'shot down' despite military records saying the airplane suffered engine failure
'Look, you saw the president. He was incredibly proud of his uncle's service in uniform. You saw him at the war memorial. It was incredibly emotional and important to him,' Jean-Pierre said.
'You saw him respond to all of you when asked about the moment yesterday, and his uncle, who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea,' she continued.
Jean-Pierre added that Biden highlighted his uncle's story to make the case 'for honoring our sacred commitment to equip those we send to war and to take care of them and their families when they come home.'
'And as he reiterated that the last thing American veterans are are suckers or losers, and he wanted to make that clear,' she added - a dig at former President Donald Trump, Biden's 2024 general election opponent.
Trump has strongly denied making such comments about American soldiers who died in World War II.
When a reporter asked her again about the veracity of the cannibal claim Jean-Pierre responded, 'I mean, look, I don't have anything beyond about what I just laid out.'
'But it was a really proud moment for him. It was incredibly emotional,' she said.
U.S. President Joe Biden visits a war memorial in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 17, 2024
There are no images of Joe Biden's uncle's plane crashing. This photograph shows a Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber attack aircraft being shot down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on the Imperial Japanese seaplane base and harbor installations at Sekar Bay on 22nd July 1944 at Kokas in Dutch New Guinea, Dutch East Indies.
Local people watching wounded U,S. and Australian soldiers being placed on a row of stretchers. Papua New Guinea, December 1942
'And I think we can't, we can't forget that moment. And we cannot also forget what it means to be a commander-in-chief, what it means to lift up our service members, what it means to make sure that we respect their service, and he made that [contrast] very clear as to what we saw from the former, former president,' Jean-Pierre said, going after Trump again.
When another reporter asked her about the
