Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday that President Donald Trump should be impeached for abusing his powers in soliciting help for his own reelection, calling his actions un-American.
The former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said Trump was shooting holes in the Constitution by asking foreign governments to interfere in the 2020 election. In July, after putting a hold on crucial U.S. aid to Ukraine, Trump asked the nations leader in a phone call for a favor investigations including one focused on Biden and his son Hunter.
House Democrats have begun an impeachment inquiry centered on the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Donald Trump will do anything to get reelected, including violating the most basic forms of democracy, Biden told a crowd in Rochester, N.H. Its stunning, and its dangerous.
This is not hyperbole: Its a fact. No president in American history has even dared to engage in such unimaginable behavior. With his words and his actions, President Trump has indicted himself, Biden said. By obstructing justice and refusing to comply with the congressional inquiry, hes convicted himself in full view of the world and the American people. Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts.
Biden took Trump to task for what he described as attempts to enlist foreign countries to interfere with U.S. presidential elections first Russia in 2016, and now Ukraine and China in 2020.
The ballot box is sacred ground in America, Biden said. Last week, on the White House lawn, President Trump invited China to get engaged in deciding our election and who our nominee would be.
It was the third foreign power that we know of thats hes asked in clear, unmistakable language, to interfere … in the democratic proceedings of the United States of America, Biden said.
Its wrong. Its un-American, he said, adding that abuse of power was a defining characteristic of Trumps presidency.
During Trumps 30-minute call with Zelenskiy, he asked the new Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden, a front-runner in the race to oppose the president in 2020, and Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. Ukrainian officials have said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.
When Zelenskiy, whose nation is fighting Russian-backed separatists, asked about military aid, Trump responded, I would like you to do us a favor though, according to the account of the call released by the White House. He added: Whatever you can do, its very important that you do it if thats possible.
Trump has continued to level accusations of wrongdoing against the Bidens, despite a lack of substantiation.
Biden defended his efforts to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor when he was involved in Obama administration policy in the former Soviet republic an act that lies at the heart of Trumps allegations as the official position of the president of the United States and the United States government.
Theres no truth in his charges and attacks against me and my son zero, the former vice president said.
Although Biden hadnt previously voiced support for Trumps impeachment, Wednesdays address marked the second time in a week thats hes publicly admonished the president over the Ukraine accusations and questioned his motivation.
