Former Vice President Joe Biden made heavy criticisms of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening. It has been the harshest attack by the Democratic presidential candidate ever since it was announced that Trump was trying to persuade his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Selenskyj, to collect incriminating evidence against Biden and his son Hunter.
During a campaign appearance in Nevada, Biden accused the Trump team of launching a campaign of "lies, graffiti, distortions and slander" aimed at harming him in the presidential race. Trump's latest attacks on his family only served to divert attention from the imminent impeachment process, Biden said. And they clearly showed that the US president fears him more than any other Democratic candidate.
However, he would not back down, Biden stressed the applause of the audience. "You will not destroy me, not me and not my family". He would not go away, no matter how dirty the attacks were and how much money the lobby was spending behind Trump.
In the days before, Biden had been silent on Trump's attacks on the Democrats. In a series of tweets and at press conferences, he had called the investigation in the run-up to an impeachment trial repeatedly as "witch hunt" and "betrayal" and denigrated his political opponents as a "pack".
A whistleblower had alerted Trump's conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Selenskyj, which prompted Democrats to consider impeachment proceedings. Trump accuses Biden of obstructing investigations into a Ukrainian company with ties to his son Hunter. Evidence remained Trump guilty. According to polls, Biden has the best chance of being nominated by the Democrats for the 2020 presidential election.
On Wednesday, US State Department General Inspector Steven Linick submitted papers to the US Congress documenting Biden's involvement in his son Hunter's affairs in Ukraine. The dossier is apparently partly by Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani and was leaked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the spring, according to Linicks.
From the point of view of the Democrats, the hearing of Mr. Linick and the documents submitted by him have raised "worrying questions". For example, certain people, such as former US Ambassador to Kiev Masha Yovanovitch, were deliberately attacked. The documents also suggested that President Donald Trump had used the Foreign Office to promote his personal political agenda.
