House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that former Vice President Joe Biden’s allegedly handsy behavior didn’t disqualify him from running for president, but she did offer advice about how to interact with people.
“I’m a member of the straight arm club … just pretend you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi told Politico on Tuesday. “He’s an affectionate person, to children, to senior citizens, to everyone, but that’s just not the way.”
Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, said that she does not believe the allegations of unwanted touching levied against Biden disqualify him for a 2020 presidential run.
The California Democrat said that the unwelcome contact from Biden may have been more accepted at one time, but what’s important in modern times is “how they receive it and not necessarily how you intended it.”
Former Nevada assemblywoman and gubernatorial candidate Lucy Flores detailed unwelcome physical contact from Biden from 2004 in a piece published in The Cut Friday. Flores said that Biden came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, smelled her hair, and kissed the top of her head.
Her account was widely shared and brought into question other physical interactions Biden has had with women. Previously, photos of the close contact had been shared, and recently they have been reupped in light of the allegations from Flores.
Biden has been floating running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, and, according to several reports, will announce his decision very shortly.
“Lucy Flores felt demeaned and that’s never OK. And if Vice President Biden decides to run for president, this is something he’s going to have to address directly with the American people,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who is running for president in 2020, said Monday.
If Biden were to enter the race for president, he would join a crowded Democratic pool that already includes 16 candidates.
