House Democrat: Joe Biden ‘Just Sort of Stared at Me’ When I Asked for Support on Election Takeover Bill

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivers remarks about the Affordable Care Act a
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Wendell Husebø

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) said Wednesday President Joe Biden “just sort of stared at me,” when Jones told Biden to be more involved in federalizing elections, where Democrats seek to cancel state voter ID laws and publicly fund political campaigns.

Jones “told President Joe Biden their party needed him more involved in passing voting legislation on the Hill,” the Associated Press reported about an event last week in which the two met. “In response? Biden ‘just sort of stared at me,’ Jones said, describing an ‘awkward silence’ that passed between the two.”

“President Obama, for his part, has been doing more to salvage our ailing democracy than the current president of the United States of America,” Jones told the AP in his terms about federalizing of elections.

Breitbart News reported Tuesday the White House protected Biden from the failed attempt by Senate Democrats to federalize elections. “Biden was kept safe from the political fallout, while Vice President Kamala Harris was sent to join the display of righteous indignation from Democrats after the bill failed to advance with a partisan vote of 50-50.”

Biden did not even address the issue publicly on camera Tuesday, deciding instead to hold an event at the White House to underscore the upcoming fire and drought season in the summer.

He ended the short event in the afternoon and ignored shouted queries from reporters about the legislation.

After the vote concluded, Biden was not, as Jones asked of Biden, more aggressive with messaging by making a public statement on television or by Twitter like former President Trump did, being the most transparent president in a very long time.

Instead, Biden issued a statement in which he called the Republicans’ blocking of the legislation “the ongoing assault of voter suppression.”

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