2020 Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden visited Iowa over the weekend along with several other Democratic candidates stumping for votes just days ahead of tonight’s Democratic debate.
As expected, a hot topic of discussion was the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry and President Trump’s allegations that Biden engaged in quid pro quo by way of using his position as vice president in 2016 and a billion dollars in U.S. loan guarantees to have the Ukrainian prosecutor fired for investigating Burisma Holdings. Biden’s son Hunter sat on the Burisma board member at the time.
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who no doubt was throwing his hat into the vice presidential ring, received high praise from Biden in Iowa for defending the family from what Biden called Trump’s “outrageous, lying ads” on the Ukraine issue.
While there, Biden told a roomful of reporters on Sunday that family members would not receive perks in a Biden administration:
Biden on Sunday said at a press conference that he would build on “the squeaky clean … environment” of the Obama White House, according to Radio Iowa.“No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they’re a cabinet, will, in fact, have any a business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or to a foreign country,” he said.
He also told Radio Iowa that if elected president, he would not seek to pardon Trump:
During an interview with Radio Iowa later Sunday afternoon, Biden said if he is elected, he will not follow President Ford’s example in pardoning Nixon so Nixon was not prosecuted for his role in Watergate.“It wouldn’t unite the country,” Biden said. “You’d say: ‘Wait a minute. I get a parking ticket and I’ve got to pay it. This happens to me and I’ve got to go to jail. This guy does all these things that put us jeopardy and he gets off? I think this is of a different nature.”
And just why would he not pardon Trump if elected president? Because he feels it would hurt his chances at re-election:
“And I think President Ford, God love him he’s a good guy, I knew him pretty well, I think if he had to do it over again he wouldn’t have done it…because he didn’t get re-elected.”
So here we have Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden going on record admitting his desire to get re-elected would be the deciding factor in whether or not to pardon his Republican predecessor. Good to know.
Should we have expected anything better from “Sleepy Joe?” No, says Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey:
Regardless, no one would expect a pardon of Trump by any succeeding Democrat administration anyway. Their bloody-mindedness in seeking his impeachment over the last two-plus years shows just how angry they are over his 2016 election victory and how dedicated they are in avenging it. This isn’t about Trump’s corruption as much as it is about Democrats’ abuse of power in the House, and how their base eggs them on to greater abuses in the name of revenge. Don’t think for a moment that a Democratic victory in the presidential election next year will slake that thirst. Democrats will still keep coming for Trump and for those who supported him. The last thing Democrats want to do is “unite the country,” as their chaotic quest for impeachment demonstrates.
Indeed.
Tonight’s CNN/New York Times Democratic presidential debate starts at 8pm ET. Here’s the podium order, and here’s how to watch it.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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