Biden Now Seen as Hunter’s Dad and Not Obama’s VP, Conway Says
Biden Now Seen as Hunter’s Dad and Not Obama’s VP, Conway Says
(Bloomberg) -- The suggestion that Ukraine help dig up dirt on a political rival, which has landed President Donald Trump in an impeachment inquiry, has also altered the perception of Joe Biden as the 2020 Democratic primary season draws near, a top White House aide said.
“He’s now seen in the news as Hunter Biden’s father, not as Barack Obama’s vice president,” counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Conway’s comments followed news that Hunter Biden is stepping down from the board of a Chinese-backed private equity company and promising to forgo all foreign work if his father is elected president. Conway said the younger Biden “should have done this quite a while ago.”
“Why isn’t Biden on top of the polls, just by saying, ‘I’m going to bring us back to the Obama years?’” Conway said. “Let’s keep Biden in there, because Biden made a huge mistake.”
A compilation of recent polls on the 2020 Democratic primary field show Elizabeth Warren is now neck and neck with Biden after the Massachusetts senator gained momentum in early September. Biden was the clear front-runner among Democrats when he entered the race in April, in part because of name recognition as a longtime U.S. senator and his eight years in the Obama White House.
Trump has kept the focus on Biden’s son, a lawyer and lobbyist, in several tweets.
Joe Biden also took to Twitter on Friday to warn Trump, “You’re not going to destroy me. And you’re not going to destroy my family. ”
Conway mused about why Obama hasn’t come out with an endorsement of his former second in command.
“Where is President Obama?” Conway said on Fox. “Why isn’t he out there supporting the man who served as his vice president for eight years?”
A source familiar with Obama’s thinking said in April that he’s not planning to endorse anyone during the early stages of the primary process. Obama waited until voting had ended in the 2016 primaries before endorsing Hillary Clinton.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Mark Niquette
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