Democratic 2020 candidate Joe Biden poured cold water on the claim that he is intimidated by President Donald Trump in an interview with Chris Cuomo that aired on CNN’s “New Day” Friday.
“You walk behind me in a debate, come here man,” the former vice president told Cuomo, with his fists bunched up, in an apparent reference to Trump lurking behind his then-Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in one of the televised 2016 debates.
Cuomo asked Biden how Democrats can have confidence that he can “take on the biggest and the baddest” in Trump who “knows how to fight in the ring one-on-one.”
Biden replied that he had “never been accused of not being able to spar” and pointed to his record of challenging world leaders during his time in former President Barack Obama’s administration.
“I’ve been accused of being too aggressive,” he said.
Trump and Biden threatened violence against each other in 2018. Biden said he would’ve “beat the hell out of” Trump in high school over his treatment of women. Trump responded that, in a fight, Biden would “go down fast and hard, crying all the way.”
Biden told Cuomo he could beat Trump in the 2020 election “by just pointing out who I am and who he is and what we’re for and he’s against.”
“This guy is a divider-in-chief. This guy is acting with racist policies. This guy is moving to foment hate, to split. That’s the only way he can sustain himself,” he said.
“He’s the bully that I knew my whole life,” Biden added. “He’s the bully that I’ve always stood up to. He’s the bully who used to make fun, when I was a kid, of a stutter, and I smacked him in the mouth.”
Check out the clip here: