Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden on Thursday called a man in Iowa a “damn liar,” “fat” and “too old to vote for me” after the man accused Biden of getting his son Hunter a job with a Ukrainian gas company in exchange for access to the Obama administration.
“You’re a damn liar, and that’s not true,” Biden lashed out at the man during a campaign event in New Hampton, Iowa, as an audience of adults and children looked on.
Biden then challenged the man — who had also questioned Biden’s fitness for the White House given his age — to feats of strength, endurance and intelligence.
“I’m not sedentary,” said the 77-year-old Biden. “You want to check my shape on, let’s do push ups together, let’s run, let’s do whatever you want to do, let’s take an IQ test.”
Joe Biden called a man at an Iowa campaign event “a damn liar” when he challenged the former vice president on his son’s work in Ukraine. Then Biden challenged him to an IQ test and push-up contest. https://t.co/y9lJLrQBi4 pic.twitter.com/pKpImCh8wE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 5, 2019
Biden spokeswoman Symone Sanders later claimed that Biden said, “Look, facts,” not “Look, fat,” referring to the man, even though audio of the remark clearly sounds like “fat.”
The 83-year-old, identified by the New York Post as Marine Corps veteran Merle Gorman, was telling reporters a candidate, presumably Biden should “please drop out of the race and put your support…” before he was cut off by the heckler — according to video posted by the Washington Examiner.
“Why don’t you just get out of here?” the second man said, leaning to speak into Gorman’s ear as he sat in a chair across from reporters.
“Stick it up your ass, fella.”
Voter that challenged @JoeBiden gets into confrontation with another voter that told him to “get out of here.”
📹: @EmilyELarsen pic.twitter.com/VSz8u2yWC0
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 5, 2019
The Iowa voter who Joe Biden called a “damn liar” speaks with reporters:
The Iowa voter who Joe Biden called a “damn liar” speaks with reporters after their tense exchange: “At least he’s not getting so old that he’s senile.” https://t.co/jUThLG82gh pic.twitter.com/UGSNrBt9ei
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 5, 2019