President Trump on Wednesday said former Vice President Joe Biden should decide on his own whether to apologize for accusations of inappropriately touching women.
“No, he’s going to make his own decisions. He’s very capable of making a decision, I assume,” Trump told reporters in the Cabinet Room of the White House when asked if Biden should apologize.
{mosads}“I wish him luck. I do wish him luck,” Trump added.
Biden, who is widely expected to launch a 2020 presidential bid, shared a video earlier Wednesday in which he addressed recent allegations from women who said he previously touched them inappropriately or behaved in ways that made them uncomfortable.
In the two-minute video, Biden’s first public comments since the allegations surfaced, the former vide president did not directly apologize to his accusers, but acknowledged that times have changed and that he would adjust his behavior.
“Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it,” Biden said. “I hear what they’re saying. I understand it. I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility, and I’ll meet it.”
Four women have shared stories in recent days recounting interactions with Biden in which they said he touched them inappropriately.
Trump, who has himself been accused of sexual misconduct by several women, was more restrained in his comments about Biden on Wednesday than he was a night earlier at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner.
He taunted Biden twice during his roughly 80 minute speech, suggesting his presidential aspirations were doomed by the allegations.
“I was going to call him,” Trump said. “I don’t know him well. I was going to say, ‘Welcome to the world, Joe. You having a good time, Joe? Are you having a good time?'”
The president later jabbed at the former vice president when recalling a meeting with a general, telling attendees that he “felt like Joe Biden” when he asked the military leader for a kiss upon hearing good news.
Trump has generally avoided wading into the discussion about claims of sexual misconduct amid the #MeToo movement. Roughly a dozen women came forward during the 2016 campaign to allege Trump had made unwanted advances or inappropriate comments toward them. The president has denied the allegations.
The accusations about Biden’s behavior have put a renewed spotlight on the former vice president’s past actions as he prepares to enter a crowded field of presidential hopefuls seeking the Democratic nominee.
Several women and men, including some of Biden’s former colleagues in the Senate, have come to his defense in recent days.
“Maybe at times he’s done some things that make people feel uncomfortable, but it matters to me what his intent is,” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) told reporters Wednesday. “I just think he’s a good guy. I think he means nothing bad by this.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Meghan McCain and former Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) are among the others who have attested to Biden’s character.
“It’s a new thing that people have been affronted by it,” Feinstein said. “Over 25 years I’ve never seen that before.”
Updated 7:18 p.m.