Biden dismisses Northeast protesters who heckled him as he toured storm damage: 'They don't understand'

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President Biden addressed hecklers who shouted at him about his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, claiming that they don’t actually live in the area he was touring and suggesting that they were upset about his climate change position.

After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced Biden as the man who will "lead us out of darkness in this present moment," the president began his remarks in New York City by saying he received a warm reception in the area he had been touring.

"None of them were shouting or complaining," Biden said. "Every one of them were thanking me as if it was something special … that I was here."

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Earlier in the day, Biden was heckled by protesters on the other side of a fence where he toured storm-damaged New Jersey with several people castigating him for his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

"My country is going to s--- and you're allowing it!" one woman yelled off camera, according to C-SPAN’s footage of the encounter. "And I’m an immigrant and I’m proud of this country! I’d give my life for this country. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves."

"All this for a f--- photo-op?" one man scoffed off camera. "You ain't gonna do s---!"

Later in the same Queens speech, Biden acknowledged that he was heckled but claimed that those hecklers don’t actually live in the area and were upset about his position on climate change. 

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"The people who stand on the other side of the fences, who don't live there, who are yelling that we're interfering with free enterprise by doing something about climate change — they don't live there," Biden said. "They don't understand."

The president invoked climate change multiple times in his speech and said that the scientific community has issued a "code red" and concluded that climate change is an "existential threat" to the United States.

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"The nation and the world are in peril," Biden said. "That's not hyperbole. That is a fact."

At the conclusion of the speech, Schumer pointed out a child on a nearby ledge with an American flag and Biden joked with the child by saying "Don't jump!" after telling him that America's "diversity" is what gets the country through tragic natural disasters.

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.