Joe Biden Defends Al Sharpton from Trump’s ‘Racist Attacks’

Joe Biden waded into the feud between Al Sharpton and President Donald Trump on Monday to defend the reverend from what he saw as “racist attacks.”

The former vice president, who was recently forced to apologize for praising segregationists, took to social media on Monday to repudiate Trump for accusing Sharpton of being a “con man” and “troublemaker.” Trump had made the remarks after Sharpton prepared to protest him for criticizing Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) over the weekend.

“Al Sharpton is a champion in the fight for civil rights,” Biden wrote. “The fact that President Trump continues to use the power of the presidency to unleash racist attacks on the people he serves is despicable. This hate has no place in our country. It’s beneath the dignity of the office.”

The feud between Sharpton and Trump took form on Monday, when the veteran black activist criticized Trump for giving “insult after racist insult” to Cummings and the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Trump had lambasted Cummings for berating the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security during a congressional hearing regarding the way migrant children were being treated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous,” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The comments were quickly deemed controversial and even “racist” by some Democrats like Sharpton.

“Here we have blatant, raw, racism, and crickets from the Republican party,” the reverend said during a segment on his MSNBC show on Sunday.

Sharpton followed up his criticism by announcing a press conference in Baltimore with Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, on Monday. Before the event could take place, however, Trump took to social media to eviscerate Sharpton, a one time friend, as a “conman” — a likely reference to Sharpton’s history of allegedly “threatening companies with bad publicity” unless they contribute heavily to his National Action Network.

“I have known Al for 25 years,” the president wrote. “Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well. He ‘loved Trump!’ He would ask me for favors often. Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!”

After his press conference, Sharpton responded to the president’s claims that he was a “troublemaker” and “conman” during an interview with MSNBC.

“[H]e’s going to attack me as a ‘troublemaker’ and a ‘con man,’  well yeah, I am a ‘troublemaker,’” the reverend declared. “I intend to make trouble every time racists and bigots move around in any way, shape or form, including the president.”