Joe Biden has claimed that Donald Trump is “scared to death” that he’ll be the Democratic nominee, after a Republican senator suggested the ongoing impeachment trial could damage the former vice president’s standing in Iowa.
The comments, from Iowa senator Joni Ernst, were quickly seized upon by political observers, who suggested that the Republican was verbalizing what has so-far been an unsaid intent to damage Mr Biden’s chances.
“Caucuses are this next Monday evening,” Ms Ernst said on Monday after a session in the Senate where Mr Trump’s team mounted its defence. “And I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus goers. Will they be supporting vice president Biden at this point?”
Mr Biden has seized on those comments, which followed after Mr Trump’s legal defence team argued that Mr Biden should be investigated for corruption or abuse of power for his efforts as vice president to ensure the dismissal of Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, which he did while his son Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
“Iowa caucus-goers take note,” Mr Biden tweeted. “Joni Ernst just spilled the beans. She and Donald Trump are scared to death I’ll be the nominee. On Feb 3rd, let’s make their day.”
Mr Trump’s impeachment follows after his apparent efforts to coerce the Ukrainian government into launching such an investigation into Mr Biden and his family, which he allegedly attempted to force by using a White House visit and US military aid as leverage.
Given his apparent targeting, Mr Biden and his family have been inextricably tied to the claims against Mr Trump, even as the former vice president has maintained that he did nothing wrong during his interactions with Ukraine.
Mr Biden is facing an uncertain path to that nomination, having found stiff competition from the likes of Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.
His standing at the top of the polls has diminished recently, and finds himself in second place among averages of national polls in Iowa, which will hold its caucuses next week.
While a loss there is not a death sentence, the result could severely undermine any momentum he would have had otherwise, and cut into the narrative that he is the most “electable” candidate that he has suggested.
