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stated on October 8, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Says Biden said, "The day after I’m elected I will let you know what I stand for, bc if I tell you now it will be all over the news."

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden takes questions at a hangar in Phoenix, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP)

By Monique Curet October 22, 2020

Joe Biden did not say he would wait till after election to “let you know what I stand for”

If Your Time is short

• Joe Biden did not say this.

• Biden initially said he would give his opinion on court packing — the idea of adding justices to the Supreme Court — when the election is over.

• He has outlined his positions on other issues.

See the sources for this fact-check

Joe Biden has been dodging questions about whether he is open to court packing, or expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court. On Oct. 13, the Democratic presidential nominee said he is not a fan of the strategy. In a town hall two days later, he said he would give his position only after seeing how the confirmation process now under way for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is handled.

Social media posts suggest, though, that Biden will not say what he stands for on any issue until after the election.

One Facebook post says, "Biden said, ‘The day after I’m elected I will let you know what I stand for, bc if I tell you now it will be all over the news’ ???? Did he really just say this??"

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

That’s because Biden did not say this. The purported quote is a distortion of comments he made about whether he would support packing the court. Biden has outlined his positions on a wide range of other issues.

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The basis of the Facebook claim appears to be a comment Biden made at a campaign stop in Phoenix on Oct. 8.

When asked about the Supreme Court, Biden replied, "You’ll know my opinion on court packing when the election is over. Now look, I know, it’s a great question, and I don’t blame you for asking. But you know the moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that ... other than focusing on what’s happening now," a reference to the Barrett nomination proceedings. (The comment begins at the 47-second mark in this video.)

Biden has since pivoted and said he will declare a position on expanding the Supreme Court prior to Election Day, based on the handling of the Barrett nomination. In a portion of a "60 Minutes" interview released Oct. 22, Biden proposed creating a bipartisan group of constitutional scholars who would study this and other court issues.

Jeff Flake

stated on February 22, 2016 in a statement

"One would have to go back more than a century to find a scenario where a president’s nominee for the Supreme Court was confirmed by the opposition party in the Senate when the vacancy occurred during an election year."

President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have sought to have Barrett confirmed and seated before the election, while Democrats wanted the president and Senate to wait until the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election is known.

Our ruling

A Facebook post says Biden said, "‘The day after I’m elected I will let you know what I stand for, bc if I tell you now it will be all over the news."

Biden did not say this, and the quote does not accurately reflect his position. It’s a distortion of statements he has made about when he will state his view on whether to expand the Supreme Court.

We rate this claim Mostly False.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.