Joe Biden: Trump Guilty of 'Overwhelming Abuse Of Power'
Says he'll 'beat him like a drum'
By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff
Posted Sep 22, 2019 8:07 AM CDT
Joe Biden puts on a Beau Biden Foundation hat while speaking at the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry, in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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(Newser) – Joe Biden went on the offensive on Saturday over President Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president—demanding its release—and NPR reports that he kept on swinging, accusing the man whose seat he's trying to take of "using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me." Further, "Trump's doing this because he knows I'll beat him like a drum... deserves to be investigated..." and is "violating every basic norm of a president," Biden said. Trump fired back, accusing the "Fake News" and the Democrats of trying to protect the party's frontrunner from the "Ukraine Witch Hunt." The two men appear to be sizing each other up for a general election matchup.
Ukraine's foreign minister, meanwhile, insists there was no pressure from Trump on President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden's son during the phone call in question, reports the Hill. "I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure," Vadym Prystaiko says. "There was talk, conversations are different, leaders have the right to discuss any problems that exist. This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on a lot of questions, including those requiring serious answers." (Biden, meanwhile, is running into some trouble in Iowa.)