LOS ANGELES — Joe Biden shrugged off Rudy Giuliani’s threatened Ukraine report, accepting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to hold on to President Trump’s articles of impeachment.
“Rudy Giuliani and his thugs have pretty much been exposed and, if I were the Republicans, I’d be worried about Rudy Giuliani,” Biden, 77, told reporters in Los Angeles.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, has promised to release his findings from a trip this month to Ukraine, where he continued his efforts to dig up political dirt on Biden and his son Hunter Biden, 49. The former New York mayor’s foreign foray coincided with the House’s passage of two articles of impeachment stemming from Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
The former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate on Friday predicted the Senate trial would mark the start of a “dark” period for the country “for a while,” but he insisted he had “confidence” in Pelosi. The Californian hasn’t transmitted the articles to the Senate as congressional Democrats negotiate the terms of the process with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Biden, who was mocked by Sarah Sanders during Thursday’s primary debate over his stuttering-child campaign anecdote, said he had accepted the former Trump White House press secretary’s apology. But he slammed Trump for encouraging a political environment in which that rhetoric was tolerated, citing his suggestion this week during a rally that the late Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan was in hell.
“I just think it’s reprehensible,” he said.
Instead, the 36-year Delaware senator touted his ability to unite the country, suggesting that polling indicated primary voters were looking for a center-left nominee, even in a more liberal state, such as a California. He also called on his Democratic rivals to quit attacking each other.
“As I said last night, if anybody has reason to not want to work with the Republicans, starting with Trump, and working their way down to some of the members of the House and Senate, it is me, way back, you can’t do that to my family,” he said, asserting the GOP had spent “millions” attacking his family.
