VP Joe Biden Calls Trump's Alleged Behavior a 'Cardinal Sin'
Biden slams Trump for what he says is "the ultimate abuse of power."
— -- In a taped 2005 conversation, Donald Trump boasted of groping women without their consent, which is “the textbook definition of sexual assault” and a “cardinal sin,” Vice President Joe Biden said today.
“First of all, what I found astounding is that he would so publicly … no matter who he was talking to, that he would acknowledge that he engaged in the textbook definition of sexual assault,” Biden said on NBC’s “Late Show With Seth Myers.”
“He didn’t say, you know, ‘I go up and ask.’ He said, ‘I go up and grab, and I can do this.’”
The Washington Post first reported Friday on the hot-mic recording of Trump saying he can “do anything,” including “kiss” and “grab” women because he is famous.
Trump denied in Sunday night’s debate ever engaging in such behavior, calling it simply “locker room banter.”
Biden went on to explain his work in combating sexual assault over his career and why he is so passionate about Trump’s comments, which he made without, apparently, knowing he was being recorded.
“My dad used to say the greatest sin of all is abuse of power, and the cardinal sin of all is a man raising his hand or taking advantage of a woman,” Biden said. “And here’s a guy who says, ‘I’m a star … so I can go in, intimidate women into allowing me to assault them and assume they’re not going to say anything.’ That is the ultimate abuse of power, and I don’t understand how anyone can remotely justify that.”
Biden’s comments echo his initial reaction to the report, as he tweeted on Saturday afternoon, when a flood of Republicans were offering harsh condemnations of Trump or revoking their endorsements.