The Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President, Joe Biden, took credit for US President Donald Trump’s impeachment in an eyebrow-raising statement on Sunday.
Speaking at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Presidential Candidates forum, Biden claimed that he is the reason Trump is being impeached.
"I may be the last guy that publicly called for impeachment, but I'm the only reason there is impeachment going on," he declared.
The ‘reason’ Biden is referring to relates to the timing of Trump’s impeachment inquiry, filed only after a whistleblower complained that Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky to look into Biden family business dealings in Ukraine.
Biden previously claimed that he forced former Ukrainian President Poroshenko to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings, a gas company where his son Hunter had a seat on the board of directors. The company was under investigation over corruption charges at the time. Biden senior admitted to threatening to withhold $1 billion of international aid to Ukraine if Shokin was not fired.
“If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Biden recalled on camera. “Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”
Calls for the impeachment of Trump have been made since day one of his tenure, spearheaded, in large part, by Representative Maxine Waters, who kept changing the reason for impeachment according to what was on the table at a time. House Democrats announced an official impeachment inquiry in late September after what many claim to have been prolonged infighting between the progressive and conservative wings of the party.
Joe Biden endorsed the Trump impeachment for the first time last week, The Hill report says.