Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden kicked off Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate by saying that President Trump is “dumbing down” the presidency with his response to the House’s voting to impeach him this week.
Mr. Biden called it a “constitutional necessity” for the House to act as it did.
“Trump’s response to suggest that only half of the American people want to see him thrown out of office now, I find is dumbing down the presidency beyond what I even thought he would” do, he said.
Mr. Biden noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had Mr. Trump’s back on the issue and said it was a mistake to impeach him.
“We need to restore the integrity of the presidency, of the office of the presidency, and it’s about time we get that underway,” Mr. Biden said.
The House on Wednesday voted to impeach Mr. Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
House Democrats are accusing the president of improperly withholding military aid from Ukraine in exchange for the country’s launching politically beneficial investigations, including into Mr. Biden.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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