Biden's challenge: Breaking through with virus response
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is working to reassert himself in national politics three weeks after taking command of the Democratic presidential primary.
Like most Americans, Biden has stayed close to home recently to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That — and a slow shift to the new online-only reality of the campaign — has left him with a lower profile as much of the nation has focused on the pandemic and President Donald Trump's response to it.
But from a newly constructed television studio in his Wilmington, Delaware, home, Biden sat for a series of high-profile interviews on Tuesday. The appearances were a preview of a more public role he's hoping to assume in the coming weeks as he emerges as the Democratic counter to Trump.
In an interview with CNN, Biden took an increasingly aggressive stance against the president's coronavirus response, urging him to “stop talking and start listening to the medical experts.”
He sounded similar themes in an afternoon interview on MSNBC, and during an earlier appearance on ABC's “The View,” where Biden said he's trying to balance his critiques of Trump against anything that would seem to undermine the president during a crisis.
“I’ve not been criticizing the president, but I've been pointing out where there's disagreements on how to proceed,” Biden said. “When the president says things that aren't accurate, we should not say, ‘You’re lying.' We should say, 'Those aren't the facts.'”
Biden has faced growing pressure from allies to speak out more about the coronavirus. In two fundraisers this past week, supporters asked how they could see more of Biden as Trump blankets the airwaves with daily, freewheeling briefings that drive each day’s news cycle.
Trump, for his part Tuesday, summoned his...