Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that he was eager to debate President Donald Trump.
‘I can hardly wait’
“I can hardly wait,” Biden told ABC’s “The View,” calling Trump “the most corrupt president we’ve ever had.”
Biden defended his decision to remain in the presidential race in the interview despite terrible results in both Iowa and New Hampshire
“People know me. They know who I am,” Biden said. “They know I’ve never been accused of doing anything indecent, I haven’t lied. I’ve been straight up.”
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‘I’m authentic’
“The bad news for me is I’m authentic,” he continued. “I say what I mean. I mean what I say and sometimes I say all that I mean but that’s — you know …”
The View co-host Sunny Hostin noted that Biden’s supposed reputation for being authentic was one of the reasons many people thought he should have been a witness in the Senate impeachment trial against Trump.
“At one point there was talk of this trade. Bolton testifying for your testimony,” Hostin said. “Many people think you should have testified because you would make a good witness. Why didn’t you?”
Biden dismissed the question, claiming no one had asked him to testify, then immediately went back to attacking Trump.
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“Look, this is a tactic he uses,” Biden said. “The best thing when you’re attacked, go to somebody else, take your eye off the ball, focus on something else. I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him that opportunity. I can hardly wait to get him on the debate stage …”
The audience burst into applause.
“No one asked me to testify,” Joe Biden says of why he didn't testify in the impeachment trial.
“This is a tactic [Trump] uses… I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him that opportunity. I can hardly wait to get him on a debate stage.” https://t.co/Y9oxJdfZvA pic.twitter.com/Y9XMkIVQZC
— The View (@TheView) February 13, 2020
Biden Continues to Pretend to be a Hardballer Despite Poor Showings in Iowa and New Hampshire
“I can hardly wait. This is the most corrupt president we’ve ever had,” Biden went on. “He wants to fight corruption. Mr. President, I released 21 years of my tax returns. Release one of yours. What do you have hiding?”
Joy Behar then intervened, asking, “Let’s say you’re on the debate stage with him and he does what he did to Hillary, starts hovering behind you like a big monster behind the poor woman. What are you going to do?”
“I’ll say, come up here, Jack. Up here. Stand next to me. Come on, this guy is a — oh gosh,” Biden laughed while shaking his head. “God, give me the grace to not say what I’m thinking.”