Biden warns Trump: ‘You’re not going to destroy me or my family’
- Trump has made discredited claims the former vice-president used his office to intervene with Ukrainian law enforcement to protect his son
- Biden called Trump ‘desperate and defensive’ after a whistle-blower filed a complaint over his conversation with Ukraine’s president
“Let me make something clear to Trump and his hatchet men and the special interests funding his attacks against me – I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said to applause in a speech in Reno. “You’re not going to destroy me. And you’re not going to destroy my family.”
Biden said that “like every bully in history, [Trump is] afraid. He’s afraid of just how badly I would beat him next November”.
The event was Biden’s attempt to paint a picture of a one-on-one match with Trump, showing his fiery side and driving home the message that the president fears him the most of the Democratic candidates.
“I don’t think he wants to run against me,” Biden said, accusing Trump of trying to “pick his opponent – but we’re not going to let Donald Trump choose the Democratic candidate”.
Biden took shot after shot at Trump, drawing cheers and applause from the audience. He said Trump’s allegations about him were “a flat-out lie” and that his policy in Ukraine was transparent and backed by international partners in an anti-corruption push.
“The truth doesn’t matter to Donald Trump,” he said. “It never has and it never will.”
Gordon Grigg, a retired schoolteacher in Reno who attended the event, said he’s undecided in the Democratic race and intrigued by Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. But he said Trump’s claims about Biden would have no impact on his decision.
“He’s been cleared,” Grigg said. “There’s nothing there.”
Biden, who faces growing competition from Warren as she jumps to a statistical tie with him in polls, made a case that he’s the most experienced.
“It takes proven ability to get things done. There’s really good people in this race. But no one in this race has a stronger record of passing big consequential legislation than me,” he said, citing gun control, the Violence Against Women Act and Obamacare.
Biden closed with a pithy line aimed at rivals such as Warren, who say it’s not enough for Democrats to simply defeat Trump.
“A lot of my opponents say we have to do more than just beat Donald Trump,” he said. “I agree. We have to do more than beat Donald Trump. We have to beat him like a drum.”