Joe Biden took a jab at the rest of the Democratic primary field during a New York fundraiser on Thursday, claiming he is the only candidate who has any accomplishments under his belt.
“I’m the only guy who has ever gotten anything done,” Biden, 76, told a group of donors at the Manhattan home of wealthy investor Andrew Solomon.
The event was also co-hosted by Andrew Goldman, a Texan millionaire who co-founded a natural gas company.
That company sparked a small group of protesters outside of Solomon’s apartment building who chanted, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.”
“I just want to be very clear to everyone here: I am committed to not raising money from fossil fuel executives and I am not doing that tonight,” Biden told attendees. “Climate change presents an existential threat, and it is real … I’m so tired of having a president who picks fiction over science.”
Before launching his third White House run, Biden served as a Delaware senator for nearly four decades and then as vice president under Barack Obama for two terms.
Biden’s tenure in political office has garnered criticism from his rivals. In June, Biden reminisced on his time working with segregationist Democratic Sens. James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia.
“Was I wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Yes, I was. I regret it,” the former vice president said in South Carolina that month.
Most recently, Biden’s record on the Iraq War has come under scrutiny after he told NPR on Tuesday that he became a vocal critic of that effort immediately after it began.
CNN’s John King slammed Biden’s remarks as dishonest the following day, saying, “No, he did not. No, he did not, and not for some time. In 2005, he acknowledged his vote was a mistake, so a lot quicker than a lot of other Democrats, but not immediately, not even close.”
