Biden accuses Trump of ‘abuse of power’ in whistleblower scandal – POLITICO

DES MOINES, Iowa – An angered Joe Biden on Saturday accused President Donald Trump of “using every element of his presidency to try and smear me,” and called for an investigation into Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president.

“You should be asking him the question: why is he on the phone with a foreign leader, trying to intimidate a foreign leader?” Biden said. “This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power. To get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from the United States and ask about me and imply things … this is outrageous. You have never seen anything like this from any president.”

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Biden grew irate, pointing his finger at a reporter who asked the former vice president if he had ever spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings. Biden said he hadn’t.

“You should be looking at Trump,” Biden said. “Everybody looked at this and everybody who’s looked at it said there’s nothing there. Ask the right question.”

Biden briefly spoke to whether the episode was a possible preview of a general election battle against Trump.

“I know what I’m up against, a serial abuser. That’s what this guy is. He abuses power any way he can,” Biden said. “This crosses the line.”