Joe Biden said Thursday night that if elected president, he would not pardon President Donald Trump if there are congressional investigations by the Justice Department against him.
"It's hands-off completely," the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee said while appearing with Stacey Abrams during a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell after a viewer asked him if he would give Trump a pardon "under the pretense of healing the nation."
While Biden didn't specify any potential charges against Trump, he did sound off about Attorney General William Barr and said a president is not "entitled" to direct either a prosecution or decide to drop a case.
"It's a dereliction of his duty," said Biden, adding that an attorney general "is not the president's lawyer. It's the people's lawyer."
"We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today," said the former vice president.
Biden was also asked to clarify if he was aware of or participated in decisions in connection to incoming Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn in 2017.
"I was never a part or had any knowledge of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office, period. Not one single time,” Biden said.
However, Biden and several other officials from former President Barack Obama's administration were listed as people who have called for Flynn's name to be "unmasked," or revealed on his conversations with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Also during the show, Biden said he thinks women should "vote their heart," and if they believe Tara Reade, his former aide who has accused him of sexually assaulting him, "they probably shouldn't vote for me."
Meanwhile, Biden said he invited Abrams, a former Georgia state lawmaker who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for him, on the special because she "has done more to deal with the fair vote and making sure there is a fair vote than anybody."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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