Former President Joe Biden makes the sign of the cross to avoid criticizing Donald Trump. (Pool feed screenshot)
"So, the events of Juneteenth are of monumental importance to the American story," he said, calling slavery "America’s original sin."
Of the holiday’s critics, he said, "They don’t want to remember – but we all remember the moral stain. . . . "
"Well, I took the view as president, we need to be honest about our history, especially if there's been any time going ever to erase our history. Not just here, but, this guy--" he added, trailing off and signing himself.
"Too many people are trying to erase our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase history from our textbooks and our classrooms."
He went on to implicitly criticize Trump for returning southern military bases to their former names. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently noted in congressional testimony that the rescission of the base renamings does not return them to the namesakes of the Confederate generals but to other U.S. military heroes with the same surname.
"[D]arkness can hide much but can erase nothing," Biden said. "The Scripture tells us faith without work is dead."
Biden then suggested Black Americans and other minorities are still facing roadblocks to the ballot box six decades after the Civil Rights Act.
"Stop those who try to make it more difficult to vote, and help people register to vote. Let's reach out to our families, our friends, our neighbors, remind them how critical it is," Biden said.
For his part, Trump said Thursday the additional federal holiday enacted by Biden is costing the U.S. "billions of dollars to keep all of these businesses closed."
"Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every working day of the year."
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Some other leaders, like West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, issued Juneteenth proclamations but kept state offices open on the nation’s newest federal holiday.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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