For Biden, a 1st With Regard to Trump's Impeachment

Biden declares his support for the first time
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 9, 2019 4:58 PM CDT
Biden Takes Firm Stance on Trump Impeachment
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the New Hampshire state Democratic Party convention, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, in Manchester, NH.   (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Wednesday for the first time that President Trump must be impeached for abusing the powers of his office to help his own reelection, the AP reports. Biden made the remarks as part of a blistering 25-minute speech in New Hampshire, departing from his usual campaign pitch and signaling that he will aggressively confront Trump as the president faces an impeachment inquiry rooted in his unfounded accusations that the former vice president and his son had nefarious dealings in Ukraine. Trump is "shooting holes in the Constitution," Biden said, by asking foreign powers to find dirt on the Bidens and then refusing to cooperate with the resulting House impeachment inquiry.

"This is a president who has decided this nation doesn't have the tools, the power, the political will" to punish bad behavior, Biden said, cataloguing a litany of Trump's actions that the former vice president said warrant impeachment. The speech comes after two weeks of uneven responses from Biden as he and his advisers debated internally the best way to handle Trump's broadsides. His New Hampshire speech, though, was his most thorough, visible retort to date. Before Biden had concluded in New Hampshire, Trump retorted via Twitter: "So pathetic to see Sleepy Joe Biden, who with his son, Hunter, and to the detriment of the American Taxpayer, has ripped off at least two countries for millions of dollars, calling for my impeachment—and I did nothing wrong." (More Joe Biden 2020 stories.)

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