Former Vice President Joe Biden had a testy exchange late Thursday with an Iowa voter, as his No Malarkey barnstorm across the state continued.
The voter questioned Biden about his son’s role in Ukraine, where Hunter was given a $50,000 monthly salary in what amounted to a no-show job. While President Donald Trump’s actions in Ukraine are the focus of impeachment hearing, Republicans have pushed the opposite talking point—that the Bidens’ behavior was corrupt.
Biden chose to call the person who asked “a damn liar.”
Joe Biden lashed at an Iowa town hall after the man suggested he helped his son get a sweetheart deal in Ukraine and was “selling access” like President Donald Trump does:
— POLITICO (@politico) December 5, 2019
“You’re a damn liar. That's not true," Biden said. “Get your words straight, jack!” https://t.co/fC9ZJy8m4f pic.twitter.com/48UziGZolN
But that was only part of the concern. It also seems Biden, the come together candidate, may have called the man “fat.”
It sure sounds like he said, “look, fat.”
But his national press secretary, Symone Sanders, was swift to correct the record, saying Biden said: “Look, facts.”
To be clear: Any assertion VP Biden said a word about the gentleman's appearance is making this something it is not. In the latter part of the exchange, the VP began to say "Look, facts" then said "here's the deal." If you've been to a Biden event, you've heard this before.
— Symone D. Sanders Townsend (@SymoneDSanders) December 5, 2019
The only problem is that “look, facts” is a nonsense phrase. In Biden’s defense, he has bumbled over the phrase “facts” while in Iowa before, once saying we choose “truth over facts.“
Not a lot of people were buying the “look, facts” defense.
Especially given that, at one point in the dialogue, he both called the man “sedentary” and challenges him to a push-up contest.
This is a lie. It's on video. Biden said "fat" not "facts" https://t.co/arA5BalIPu pic.twitter.com/8vcMRQVBFv
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) December 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/ajafarzadehPR/status/1202958118663204865
are you fucking kidding me lmao https://t.co/Iz6AzT19uB
— Nissan al-Tiem (@spaghetti) December 6, 2019
This is astonishingly dishonest. Video is on my page. He clearly calls the guy fat https://t.co/H1SEPSducB
— ProgressiveSoapbox (@theProgSoapbox) December 6, 2019
And while Biden claimed he didn’t insult a voter’s look, his primary campaign has, through the entirety of it, carried an aggrieved sense of self, over how voters question him, over how the media portrays him, over how his past record has been challenged.
So it wouldn’t be completely impossible for him to have lost it for a second.