Former vice president-turned-2020 Democratic contender Joe Biden drew a new round of criticism Tuesday night for creepily touching a 10-year-old girl during a rally, just weeks after promising to be more mindful about women’s (and children’s) personal space.
“I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking,” Biden can be heard telling the little girl on a video of the incident, just before asking her what her favorite subject was in school.
After the girl replied that her favorite subject was journalism, Biden walked her to the back of the room to introduce her to the press gathered behind his audience, where he stood behind the girl with his hands resting on her shoulders.
In a somewhat odd moment at tonight's AFT town hall, Biden tells a 10-year-old girl, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking." He takes her over to the assembled reporters, then stands behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders while he's talking.
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) May 28, 2019
The weird scene comes just days after Biden, who’s long been criticized for being far too handsy with women and young girls at political events, promised he’d “do better” about respecting women’s space and stop touching them without their consent. The former VP has refused to outright apologize for crossing boundaries in the past, however, saying he didn’t “intentionally…do anything wrong.”
"Sorry I invaded your space. I’m sorry this happened," Biden told the women on The View back in April. "I’m not sorry in the sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”