Rejecting the revelations of a pay for play scheme found on Hunter Biden's allegedly abandoned laptop, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden rejected it as a political "smear" campaign.
"This is the same garbage – Rudy Giuliani, Trump's henchmen – it's a last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family," Biden told WISN-12 News from his home on Tuesday.
Biden summarily dismissed the claims by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., which were: "Joe Biden was fully aware of he was taking his 10% cut or requiring 50% from his family member's salary."
Asked if the claims had any "legitimacy," Biden responded: "None whatsoever."
Biden went on to point to his defenders claiming there was no basis to the reports, without directly denying any of the specifics himself, then smeared Sen. Johnson.
"Ron should be ashamed of himself," Biden concluded.
There is a debate Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, where Biden is equally unlikely to commit to responding to any specifics of the findings on the Biden laptop, which is now under investigation by the FBI, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has instituted a mute button it has said is for "enforcing the rules," so it is plausible President Donald Trump might not be permitted to deviate from the topics set by NBC News moderator Kristen Welker.
The final presidential debate, which was planned to be about foreign policy, does not include a segment on foreign policy.
Stepien said the topic list would "insulate Biden from his own history."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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