Joe Biden has been leading in the polls since he announced he was running for president.
Now, that lead isn’t so comfortable. Elizabeth Warren is close behind him, and President Donald Trump is linking the former vice president and his son Hunter to the impeachment inquiry.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke with KNPR's State of Nevada about the impeachment controversy:
“I don’t have to respond to anything. There is not a single outlet in the world that I’m aware of that has done anything other than say [that] there is not a single solitary [thing] either my son or I did wrong,” he said, “This is about Donald Trump. He’s the one who has to answer the questions. I’m not going to let him divert and try to make this about me and there is no basis for what he said.”
Biden said the president is the one who needs to explain the phone call he made to the president of Ukraine. He added that no one has asserted that he has broken any laws.
The presidential hopeful pushed back on the idea that the impeachment inquiry has tarnished his campaign in any way.
“I don’t know any major outlets saying that," he said, "What they’re saying is this is a tactic he has always used -- not just against me, but against whomever his problem is. I am not worried about the American public comparing my character to his. The American public knows who I am.”
Biden said the impeachment inquiry is going to be tough on the country and cause more divisions; however, “You cannot, for the security of the nation, do anything other than investigate what he’s publicly acknowledged that he’s done.”
The former VP went on to call President Trump "unhinged."
“It is really dangerous for the country not to face this head-on and just let the facts lead where they are,” he said.
Besides the impeachment inquiry, Biden also outlined his vision for a greener future for America.
“One of the things we have to do is focus on the whole notion of how many hundreds of millions of barrels of oil we can, in fact, save, in terms of polluting the environment, with just dealing with that whole notion of looking to fortifying what we already have,” he said.
Biden would like to see more electric vehicles and charging stations for those vehicles. He would also like to see more green building standards and renewable energy to power those buildings.
“The thing about the United States that has made us different is we’ve always looked at every problem as an opportunity," he said, "There’s a gigantic opportunity here.”
Biden did not mince words when it came to immigration policy.
“The single most important thing that has to be done for comprehensive immigration reform is to defeat Trump. Not a joke. That doesn’t solve it, but it gets us there,” he said.
The presidential candidate criticized the president's idea to create a moatfilled with snakes and alligators along the border and the idea to shoot migrants in the leg.
“I mean -- what the hell is with this guy?” he said.
Biden believes -- if elected -- he will find support in the Senate to improve immigration in the country and possibly find a compromise on a pathway to citizenship for the millions of people in the United States illegally right now.
"This is about who we are as a country and it really is," he said. "I know I’m always saying it, but I mean it. It’s about restoring America’s soul."
(Editor's note: This interview originally aired October 2019)
Joe Biden, former vice president, Democratic presidential candidate
