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Biden: Russian Election Interference Wouldn’t Have Happened During the Obama Administration

Russia interfered in the 2016 election when Biden was VP

July 6, 2019

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that Russian election interference would not have happened when he was Vice President during a Friday interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo.

Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to undermine U.S. elections while undermining elections throughout Europe.

"Look at what's happening with Putin. While Putin is trying to undo our elections, he is undoing elections in Europe. Look what's happened in Hungary, look what's happening in Poland, look what's happening," Biden said. "Do you think that would happen on my watch or Barack's watch? You can't answer that, but I promise you it wouldn't have. And it didn't."

The Russian interference in the 2016 election did occur while Obama and Biden were both in office.

Biden was asked what bothered him about President Donald Trump's foreign policy.

"You have made a big point of saying the threat here with the current administration is abroad. What exactly bothers you abroad?" Cuomo asked.

"What bothered me abroad is, look, the idea that we can go it alone with no alliances for the next 20 or 30 years is a disaster," Biden said. "We can't go in every place. We need allies. He is absolutely dissing them. He's embracing thugs. He's embracing Kim Jong-Un who's a thug. He's embracing Putin who's a dictator."

Biden added that if Trump was re-elected that NATO will no longer exist.

During the 2012 election, Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney's assessment that Russia was America's number one geopolitical foe. Biden also downplayed the threat posed by Russia at the time, saying Romney was "stuck in a Cold War mentality" and knew very little about foreign policy. He praised the relationship between the United States and Russia during Obama's time in office, saying that improved relations between the two countries "are helping advance American security."