Joe Biden vowed he would work across the aisle if elected president despite Republicans scrutinizing his son Hunter’s ties to Ukraine.
“I refuse to accept the notion, as some on this stage do, that we can never, never get to a place where we have cooperation again,” the former vice president said during the Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“If that’s the case, we’re dead as a country,” he continued. “We need to be able to reach consensus. If anyone has reason to be angry with the Republicans and not want to cooperate, it’s me, the way they’ve attacked me, my son, and my family. I have no love. But the fact is, we have to be able to get things done, and when we can’t convince them, we go out and beat them like we did in the 2018 election in red states and in purple states.”
[Watch: Democrats face off in sixth Democratic debate]
President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been investigating unverified corruption claims against the president’s political rival. Trump and his lawyer claim Biden improperly used his role as vice president to pressure Ukraine to fire former Ukrainian prosecutor-general Viktor Shokin and to drop an investigation into a gas company that employed his son.
Their allegations stem from a 2018 video showing the elder Biden bragging about threatening to hold back $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine did not terminate Shokin from his post. Shokin was removed in 2016 from his position amid international pressure.
Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens during a July 25 phone call, setting off Democrats’ impeachment investigation, which culminated Wednesday night when the House voted to impeach the president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
