Joe Biden Forced To Apologize For Calling Bill Clinton’s Impeachment ‘Partisan Lynching’
Donald Trump has been facing intense backlash from the media and his critics – including former Vice President Joe Biden – after referring to the impeachment case against him as a “lynching.” But Biden is in some hot water of his own after a quote about the Clinton impeachment in 1998 recently resurfaced. In a statement to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Biden called the impeachment against former President Bill Clinton a “partisan lynching.”
As The Hill reports, Biden took to social media on Wednesday to apologize for his use of the word, which critics say is racially insensitive and historically problematic. Over 20 years ago, Biden called the impeachment against Clinton a “lynching,” something he now says he was wrong to do.
“This wasn’t the right word to use and I’m sorry about that,” Biden tweeted.
But the Democrat isn’t backing down entirely. He went on to say that Trump’s use of the word is further evidence that the current president is attempting to divide the country along racial lines.
“Trump on the other hand chose his words deliberately today in his use of the word lynching and continues to stoke racial divides in this country daily,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump said that he believed that he was being unfairly attacked by Democrats with the House impeachment inquiry.
“All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!” Trump wrote.
The president faced immediate backlash from across the political spectrum. Biden himself weighed in, saying that making the comparison to lynching was shameful, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Impeachment is not ‘lynching,’ it is part of our Constitution. Our country has a dark, shameful history with lynching, and to even think about making this comparison is abhorrent. It’s despicable,” he said.
Joe Biden: “Impeachment is not "lynching”…. to even think about making this comparison is abhorrent. It's despicable.”
Also Joe Biden in 1998: pic.twitter.com/m88OemRMmG
— Students For Trump (@TrumpStudents) October 23, 2019
Democratic Representative Bobby Rush, a civil rights activist, also criticized the president’s comment, pointing to the historical use of lynching against black people in the United States. He called on the president to delete the tweet.
Not everyone found Trump’s words offensive. As The Inquisitr previously reported, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham defended the president’s words, saying that his description of the impeachment was “accurate” and that he believed it was a “lynching.”
He went on to slam the impeachment proceedings, which are focused on conversations between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Graham said that the inquiry was “mob” rule and that Trump should be able to confront his accuser.
