TOPLINE
At a Yahoo News virtual town hall on Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden said he supports coronavirus-related workplace safety regulations even if they raise food prices, called Trump’s use hydroxychloroquine inappropriate and said his campaign won’t respond to slander from Trump and his surrogates.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 28: Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with Hillary Clinton during The … [+] Impact of COVID-19 on Women virtual town hall event as seen livestreaming on a laptop in Washington, DC on April 28, 2020. During the event, Hillary Clinton endorsed Joe Biden for president. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Washington Post via Getty Images
KEY FACTS
“No worker’s life is worth me getting a cheaper hamburger,” Biden said when asked about the potential for meat prices to be raised by workplace safety regulations to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Biden also criticized Trump’s desire to restart the economy at all costs: “He’s so worried that the Dow is going to drop–which it has. That’s his measure. That’s his Holy Grail, & that’s all he cares about.”
Biden called Trump’s use of hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus “totally irresponsible” and compared it to saying, “if you injected Clorox in your blood it may cure you,” adding “come on. What is he doing? What in God’s name is he doing?”
Asked how his campaign will respond to allegations like Donald Trump Jr.’s suggestion he’s a pedophile, Biden said the allegation is “sick” but that he doesn’t want to get in the mud with the Trump campaign and is confident the public knows him well enough to know it’s false.
Biden also expressed confidence that Trump’s 2016 playbook wouldn’t work in 2020 because “the American people know who Donald Trump is,” noting that his approval rating as president has never broken 50%.
Chief Critic
Donald Trump Jr. responded to the interview by tweeting that he “actually didn’t accuse” Biden of being a pedophile, but added that he is accusing him of “being creepy as hell.”
Tangent
New polls of Arizona and Florida, states which Trump won in 2016, showed Biden leading Trump by sizable margins. Biden also leads Trump by 12 points in Virginia.
