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Joe Biden breaks silence to call for Trump's impeachment for first time

Call comes day after White House refuses to cooperate with Congress

Andrew Buncombe
Seattle
Wednesday 09 October 2019 15:07 BST
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Joe Biden breaks silence to call for Donald Trump's impeachment for first time

Joe Biden has for the first time directly called for Donald Trump’s impeachment, claiming the president has “indicted himself”.

While most of the leading Democrats seeking to take on the president in 2020 have already called for Mr Trump’s formal censure by congress, the former vice president had only gone as far as to say he backed the move if he failed to cooperate with the investigation.

Yet on Wednesday, a day after the White House officially informed Democrats on Capitol Hill they would not help their impeachment probe, Mr Biden claimed the president had to be confronted.

“With his words, and his actions, President Trump has indicted himself by obstructing justice, refusing to comply with the congressional inquiry. He’s already convicted himself in full view of the world and the American people,” he said.

“Donald Trump has violated his oath of office betrayed this nation, and committed impeachable acts. You know, to preserve our constitution, our democracy. Our basic integrity. He should be impeached.”

The 76-year-old Mr Biden, who along with senator Elizabeth Warren, is heading the polls to become the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nominee, has more reason than many to support calls for the president’s impeachment.

A US intelligence community whistleblower complaint alleges Mr Trump asked the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Mr Biden and his son, Hunter.

Mr Biden has long denied accusations that he helped his son, Hunter, in the process of his diplomacy in Ukraine while vice president, and there is no evidence to back the accusations made by Mr Trump and his supporters, such as Rudy Giuliani. The former New York city mayor has been revealed to be running a private outreach effort on behalf of the president, to press president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.

Mr Trump has denied doing anything wrong in asking to Ukraine to root out corruption, and doubled down on his position by then asking China to also investigate Mr Biden and his son. The emergence of the whistleblower complaint, led House speaker Nancy Pelosi to officially launch an impeachment probe.

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Aware that impeachment will be a deeply divisive process for the country, Mr Biden had sought to focus on other issues.

But speaking while campaigning in Rochester, New Hampshire, the second state in the nation to hold its primary elections, he delivered his most forceful words yet on the topic.

“We have to remember that impeachment isn’t only about what the president’s done,” he said.

“It’s about the threat the president poses to the nation if allowed to remain in office.”

Mr Trump was quick to fire back.

“So pathetic to see Sleepy Joe Biden, who with his son, Hunter, and to the detriment of the American taxpayer, has ripped off at least two countries for millions of dollars, calling for my impeachment – and I did nothing wrong,” he wrote on Twitter.

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