Former Vice President Joe Biden has slammed fellow 2020 presidential rivals Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), accusing them of “trying to con” Americans akin to President Trump with their proposals on foreign policy and health care.
“I have never heard anyone say, with any serious background in foreign policy, that we pull all troops out of the Middle East,” Biden said Wednesday outside a union hall in Columbus, Ohio. “If she meant pulling our fleet out of the eastern Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf, I think it would be an absolute disaster for American security and American foreign policy.”
Warren didn’t offer that level of detail Tuesday when she said, “I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East.” But her statement garnered immediate attention on social media and forced her campaign aides to clarify that she meant only combat troops.
The Massachusetts senator has previously advocated for shrinking the U.S. footprint overseas and has said she wants to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Withdrawing troops from the entire region would go further and end generations of U.S. presence in the volatile region.
Separately Wednesday, Biden swatted at Warren for avoiding questions on whether her proposed single-payer government health insurance plan would require middle-class tax increases.
“It’s fascinating that a person who has a plan for everything has no plan for the single most consequential issue in this election in the minds of the American people across the board,” Biden said, adding that “credibility matters.”
Warren took several minutes of heat Tuesday night over the issue, sticking to her argument that a “Medicare for All” system would drive down costs for middle-class households by eliminating their current expenses for private insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. Her suggestion is that those savings would outweigh any tax increases, an analysis Biden said would not apply for every middle-class wage earner.
The senator “is going to have to tell the truth,” Biden said, or face questions about her willingness “to be candid and honest with the American people.”
“Look, I’m not picking on Elizabeth Warren, but this is ridiculous,” he said.
The former vice president then turned his attention to Sanders, who returned to the national stage for the first time Wednesday evening since suffering a heath attack two weeks ago.
“And God love Bernie, and it was really good, I really mean it, to see him so healthy and moving last night, I really mean that,” said Biden. “He’s been through hell, by the way. You know his daughter in law died of cancer like my son, I mean this guy has been through hell, I was glad to see him, I really mean it.”
“But Bernie, Bernie doesn’t pay for half his plan,” he explained. “Look the last thing the Democrats should be doing is playing Trump’s game and trying to con the American people to think this is easy. There’s nothing easy about it. If you’re going to do it, tell us how you’re going to do it. It’s called truth in speaking.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.