- The Washington Times - Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Joseph R. Biden’s campaign said taxpayers should be reimbursed after President Trump’s used a Rose Garden press conference to unload a series of attacks against his Democratic rival.

Biden campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said the “spectacle” showed Mr. Trump realizes his re-election hopes are fading away.

“What we heard in the Rose Garden today wasn’t a president at all,” Ms. Bedingfield said.

“It was a politician who sees his re-election slipping away from him and who is furious that his own botched response to the coronavirus pandemic has denied him the campaign events he so craves,” she said.”The American taxpayer should be reimbursed for the abuse of funds this spectacle represented.”

Mr. Trump repeatedly slammed Mr. Biden, mentioning the former vice president, who leads national and swing-state polls, over two dozen times.

Mr. Trump said the far-left of the Democratic party has brainwashed Mr. Biden into embracing ideas that would wreak havoc on the economy and open the door to more illegal immigration.

The criticism came hours after Mr. Biden rolled out a $2 trillion clean energy plan derived from a Biden-Sanders unity task force that was co-chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Ms. Bedingfield said Mr. Biden displayed the sort of leadership in his address on Tuesday that Mr. Trump’s press conference sorely lacked.

“Donald Trump made clear over the course of 63 minutes this afternoon just how badly that leadership is lacking and needed,” she said.

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.

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