Vice President Joe Biden didn’t pull any punches Friday when he appeared to suggest he wants to fight Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying he wished he could take Trump “behind the gym.”
The remarks, made during a campaign stop on behalf of Hillary Clinton in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, came during a riff on Trump’s recently surfaced 2005 comments in which he bragged about being able to grope women and get away with it.
“What he said he did and does is the textbook definition of sexual assault,” Biden said. “And think about this: It’s more than that. He said that ‘Because I’m famous, because I’m a star, because I’m a billionaire, I can do things other people can’t.’ What a disgusting assertion for anyone to make.”
Biden continued: “The press always ask me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’ No, I wish we were in high school — I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s remarks.
Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, later suggested a double standard in coverage of Biden’s comments.
“Had Trump said this, it would be hair-on-fire #breakingnews with ‘violence’ and ‘bully’ trending, high school psychologists on TV panels,” she tweeted.
This isn’t the first time Biden has slammed Trump’s hot mic conversation. In Nevada last week, Biden, who has been outspoken about preventing sexual assault on university campuses, reiterated his claims that Trump’s remarks are the “textbook definition of sexual assault.”
He added that the Republican presidential nominee’s comments are “not inconsistent with the way in which he’s abused power all along.”