Just ahead of his speech in Iowa set for this Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders took aim and former Vice President and current 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, at one point laying the blame for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election at his feet.
During a press gaggle outside the White House this Tuesday, Sanders also blamed Biden for China’s economic growth.
“I’m sure Biden has a lot of questions he needs to answer himself,” Sanders said, adding that Biden “was part of the administration that allowed Russia to interfere in our election” and helped “China to continue to grow.”
Sanders’ words may be designed to preempt Biden’s Iowa speech. According to The Independent, which obtained an advanced copy of his speech, Biden calls out Trump 76 times and refers to him as an “existential threat.”
“While Trump is tweeting, China is making massive investments in technologies of the future,” Biden reportedly plans to say. “You bet I’m worried about China — if we keep following Trump’s path.”
Sanders went on to say that Biden, "was part of the administration that allowed Russia to interfere in our election… they allowed China to continue to grow."
— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) June 11, 2019
Biden’s speech is the latest salvo in a war of words between him and President Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the former VP on Twitter, calling him a “low IQ individual” on foreign soil last month. “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “Swampman Joe Biden” are other examples of Trump’s favorite nicknames for the Democratic frontrunner.
The Trump administration has accused the Obama administration of ignoring Russian election meddling before, and so have some Democrats. According to a fact-check from CNN last month, it’s not entirely accurate to say the Obama administration did “nothing” when it came to Russia’s tactics.
While there is evidence that the Obama administration struggled with how to deal with Russia’s election meddling, it did make attempts to get Russia to stop, and also to tell the American public about what the Russians were up to. Those attempts appear to have had little to no impact on Russia’s behavior, and the public did not fully grasp the extent of the meddling until well after the election.
According to a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom/CNN Iowa poll, Biden enjoys the support of 24 percent of Iowa Democratic caucus goers. Bernie Sanders is behind him at 16 percent, while Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Senator Kamala Harris are at 15 percent, 14 percent and 7 percent respectively.
Featured image via screen grab/CNN
