In The Know About Joe

Read Time: 7 Minutes

5/22/20

• The PBS NewsHour spoke with 74 former Biden staffers, of whom 62 were women, in order to get a broader picture of his behavior toward women over the course of his career, how they see the new allegation, and whether there was evidence of a larger pattern.

None of the people interviewed said that they had experienced sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by Biden. All said they never heard any rumors or allegations of Biden engaging in sexual misconduct, until the recent assault allegation made by Tara Reade. Former staffers said they believed Reade should be heard, and acknowledged that their experiences do not disprove her accusation.

Overall, the people who spoke to the NewsHour described largely positive and gratifying experiences working for Biden, painting a portrait of someone who was ahead of his time in empowering women in the workplace.

• A top adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign warned that former Vice President Joe Biden could lose the election in November because “a significant portion” of Sanders’s supporters are “currently unsupportive and unenthusiastic” about his candidacy.

“There is a real and urgent need to help Biden consolidate Sanders supporters.”

• Democrats are worried that Joe Biden is struggling to define himself as President Trump escalates his attacks on the presumptive Democratic nominee’s age, record on China and more.

“Joe Biden is in danger of falling into the Trump trap that unraveled Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “Donald Trump offered many tempting attack targets and Clinton was so busy responding to Trump broadsides that she was unable to focus on her own message.”

• Former Vice President Joe Biden’s senior advisers sounded a confident note in a campaign update on Friday, saying they believe their candidate is positioned to compete or even win a number of traditionally red states taken by President Trump in 2016. 

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said the campaign views Arizona, Texas and Georgia as battleground states they intend to contest and win. The campaign says Arizona is at the top of their list of red states that could turn blue for the first time in decades this November.

• Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden hit President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday – the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia – for undermining LGBTQ+ rights.

The former vice president said in a campaign statement the Trump-Pence administration’s actions has made LGBTQ+ advocates around the world “no longer sure that the United States is their friend and ally.”

“Instead of building on this progress, the Trump-Pence Administration has done everything it can to undermine LGBTQ+ rights,” Biden said. 

Biden said the administration has created a safe harbor for hate, rolled back protections for the LGBTQ+ community, prevented transgender people from serving in the military, denied health care access to the community and has not fought the “epidemic of violence” against transgender people.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was met with repeated interruptions during his virtual campaign speech on Monday even as he delivered it from the comforts of his own Delaware residence.

While delivering remarks during his campaign event outside on Monday afternoon, Biden was interrupted multiple times by repeated honking from Canada geese at a pond located on the other side of his residence.

• Joe Biden’s campaign said on Monday that he would rescind the Keystone XL Pipeline permit if elected, undercutting what has been a top priority of President Trump.

• Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) teamed up to call several small-dollar donors to his presidential campaign for a new video released Sunday by the Biden campaign.

In the video, Biden and Warren thank several of the former vice president’s supporters for their donations, mirroring videos released by Warren during her own campaign for the Democratic nomination over the past year.

“We’re gonna do our best not to disappoint you, and we’re gonna take this country back and build a better country in the process with your help,” Biden tells one supporter in the video.

• Joe Biden said Tuesday he does not support Israeli moves to annex territory, his most forceful opposition to the prospect of Israel’s government moving forward on sovereignty over the West Bank and Jordan Valley.

“I do not support annexation,” the vice president said during a virtual fundraiser with members of the American Jewish community, according to a transcript reviewed by The Hill. “The fact is, I will reverse Trump’s undercutting of peace.”

• Joe Biden’s campaign has hired Julie Chávez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of late labor leader César Chávez, as a senior adviser focused on Latino outreach.

Chávez Rodriguez served as a special assistant to former President Obama, managing outreach to Latino and LGBT groups. She most recently served as California state director for Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) presidential campaign.

• Senate Republicans issued their first subpoena on Wednesday as part of wide-ranging investigations tied to the Obama administration.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines to issue a subpoena for Blue Star Strategies, a firm with ties to Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.

The subpoena asks for records from Jan. 1, 2013, to the present of Blue Star Strategies “related to work for or on behalf of Burisma Holdings or individuals associated with Burisma.”

• A large majority of registered Latino voters support former Vice President Joe Biden over President Trump, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

Sixty-two percent of registered Latino voters support Biden, compared to 21 percent who support Trump, according a new Latino Decisions poll

• More voters trust former Vice President Joe Biden to contain the coronavirus pandemic than President Trump, according to a new Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday, suggesting that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is making inroads on the issue.

• Hillary Clinton collected $2 million for Joe Biden’s new joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee this week — an enormous one-night haul for the once cash-strapped campaign.

Clinton raised the money during a Zoom fundraiser Tuesday. It was more than any Biden surrogate has collected at a single event without the candidate present, according to campaign and party officials. Unlike at prior Biden campaign events, though, donors were allowed to give far more money because their checks were going to a new joint committee between the Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee.

• The United Auto Workers union announced that it is endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden in this year’s election.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden has asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar to undergo vetting to be a potential running mate, according to a source with knowledge of the discussion. Biden has already pledged to choose a woman as his running mate and is said to be considering around a dozen potential candidates.

• Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said Thursday she’s on the “short list” of candidates that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is considering to be his running mate.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that he would not increase taxes on those making less than $400,000 annually.

“Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised. Period. Bingo,” the likely Democratic presidential nominee said.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden told popular black radio personality, Charlamagne tha God, that he “ain’t black” if he was still weighing whether to support President Donald Trump in November’s general election.

• Charlamagne tha God defended former Vice President Joe Biden’s support for the black community following their morning interview. 

“We have been loyal to Democrats for a long time, black people have invested a lot into that party and the return on investment has not been great,” he wrote. “As Biden said in our brief interview when I asked him if Dems owe the black community, ‘ABSOLUTELY’ was his answer. So let’s see what you got!!!”

• Biden said Friday that he regrets telling radio host Charlamagne Tha God earlier in the day that if you support President Trump “then you ain’t black.”

“I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy. I shouldn’t have been so cavalier,” Biden said.

“I don’t take it for granted at all and no one should have to vote for any party based on their race, religion or background. There are African Americans who think Trump is worth voting for. I don’t think so and I’m prepared to put my record against his, that was the bottom line and it was really unfortunate, I shouldn’t have been so cavalier.”