After almost daily pointed attacks by Donald Trump as he tries to wiggle his way out of the Ukraine scandal, Joe Biden is finally striking back, making a direct call Wednesday for Trump’s impeachment.
As Politico explains, it’s the first time the Democratic presidential hopeful and former vice president has clearly and unequivocally said that Trump deserves to have the hammer dropped on him by Congress for seeking Ukraine’s—and now other countries’—help in digging up dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter.
“He should be impeached,” Biden said of Trump during a campaign speech in New Hampshire. “He’s shooting holes in the Constitution, and we cannot let him get away with it.”
Trump hit back via his favorite forum, Twitter, with the following barb:
However, despite the vitriol, as the New York Times explains, there is no evidence of any such thing on the part of the Bidens:
There is no evidence that Hunter Biden made millions of dollars from his overseas work or that his father intervened inappropriately with Ukraine or China, the other country Mr. Trump was alluding to in his tweet. The president has also urged China to look into the Bidens.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his almost daily attacks against Biden on this issue—all while the House is looking at Trump for wrongdoing; activity Trump has openly acknowledged, but while claiming a thing is not a thing.
Thus, Biden seems to have recognized that he must do more to answer Trump’s attacks, as his former frontrunner status among Democratic presidential hopefuls is threatened.
In a speech in Rochester, N.H. that elicited much applause, Biden told the crowd Trump was acting out of fear of a Biden candidacy next November.
Per the Times:
“He’s afraid about just how badly I will beat him next November,” said Mr. Biden, attempting to frame the general election as a contest between him and the president, and appealing to Democratic voters here and elsewhere who are consumed with finding a nominee who can oust Mr. Trump.
But he also used his speech, which lasted just under 30 minutes, to warn of the damage he claimed Mr. Trump was doing to the country.
“We all laughed when he said could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and get away with it,” said Mr. Biden. “It’s no joke. He’s shooting holes in the Constitution, and we cannot let him get away with it.”
Trump made an ask during a July phone call to Ukraine’s president that critics say smacked of quid pro quo—using the power of the Oval Office to get something of personal benefit to himself, in this case, dirt on political rival Biden.
Trump claims the ask was simply about clamping down on corruption, to which House Democrats who’ve launched an impeachment inquiry have basically responded, “Sure, it was.”