Sen. Cory Booker called out former Vice President Joe Biden for ducking a question about deportations and putting the responsibility on former President Barack Obama.
“Mr. Vice President, you can’t have it both ways, you invoke President Obama more than anybody in this campaign, you can’t do it when it’s convenient and then dodge it when it’s not,” he said.
The debate audience cheered and applauded Booker’s response, as the former Vice President struggled to respond to questions about the record of deportations under the Obama administration.
Mayor Bill de Blasio challenged Biden for failing to answer the question.
“I was vice president, I am not the president, I keep my recommendation to him in private, unlike you,” Biden replied to the New York City Mayor, appearing to cite executive privilege about the conversations he had with the president.
Later in the debate, Joe Biden defended his record on criminal justice and other contentious issues that his fellow Democrats continued to raise by citing Obama.
“I trust his judgment,” he said.