At Iowa event, Biden gets into spat over his son
Thursday should have been a good day for Joe Biden. He got the endorsement of former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, and an ad of his went viral online.
But then this happened:
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
"Get your words straight, Jack!"
When confronted by an Iowa voter over his son’s alleged role in the Ukraine scandal, Biden grew agitated.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RETIRED FARMER FROM IOWA SAYING:
“But you on the other hand, sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company that he had no experience with gas or nothing, in order to get access to, for the President. So you're you're selling access to the president just like he was. "
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
"You're a damn liar man. That's not true. And no one has ever said that....No one has said my son has done anything wrong and I did not, on any occasion, and no one has ever said it...."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RETIRED FARMER FROM IOWA SAYING:
"I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
"You said I set up my son to work in an oil company. Isn't that what you said? Get your words straight Jack."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RETIRED FARMER SAYING:
"That's what I'm hearing, on MSNBC."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
"You do not hear that that on MSNBC. You did not hear that. You heard ...Look I'm not going to get into an argument."
Trump’s push to suggest that Biden, as vice president, worked to aid Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine, is at the center of the impeachment inquiry being conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump and his allies have offered no evidence to support that claim.
The heckler at the Iowa event also questioned Biden’s fitness for office.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
“And if you want to check my shape on, let's do pushups. Let's run, let's do whatever you want to do."
Trump’s re-election campaign quickly posted the video of the exchange, suggesting that Biden had gone “berserk.”
Afterwards, the heckler was himself heckled.
MAN OFF CAMERA CONFRONTS RETIRED FARMER
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RETIRED FARMER FROM IOWA SAYING:
"Stick it up your ass."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RETIRED FARMER FROM IOWA SAYING:
“You want to throw me out?"
(SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED MAN, SAYING:
"I wish I could, but I don't want to get sued."
The Iowa caucuses are the first nominating contest in the primary, and take place on February 3, 2020.
