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Trump jokes about allegations that have roiled the presidential ambitions of Senator Joe Biden at a GOP fundraiser on April 2.
- President Donald Trump at a GOP fundraiser Tuesday joked about allegations that Joe Biden inappropriate touched several women.
- "I felt like Joe Biden. But I meant it," quipped Trump, after telling a story about wanting to kiss a US Army general.
- After remarking on Biden being attacked by "socialists" over the touching claims Trump joked "'Welcome to the world, Joe. You having a good time, Joe?'"
- The quip appeared to be a reference to the much more serious allegations many women have made against Trump.
President Donald Trump at a Republican fundraiser Tuesday repeatedly aimed jibes at Joe Biden, and joked he wanted to call him in sympathy at the political trouble caused by a string of allegations that Biden inappropriately touchedseveral women.
Speaking at an event for the National Republican Fundraiser Committee Tuesday, Trump - who has faced multiple, much more serious, accusations of impropriety from women - told the former Vice President "welcome to the world."
Both men have denied all the allegations against them.
Trump repeatedly mocked Biden's trouble, starting with an anecdote about congratulating a general in Iraq.
"I said, 'General, give me a kiss.' I felt like Joe Biden. But I meant it," Trump said, prompting laughter and applause.
Trump went on to discuss Republicans drawing battle lines for the "war" on socialists in the 2020 election.
He said Biden - the only "non-, sort of, heavy socialist" in contention for the 2020 nomination "is being taken care of pretty well by the socialists."
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Trump and Joe Biden shake hands at his inauguration in 2017, one of their few appearances together.
The mention was a nod to reports that supporters of rival presidential candidate,left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders,are helping to promote the claims against Biden.
Trump continued: "I was going to call him, I don't know him well, I was going to say, 'Welcome to the world, Joe. You having a good time, Joe?'" Trump said.
Trump himself has faced accusations of sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour from multiple women, and his 2016 presidential campaign was almost derailed by the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, in which he boasted of groping women.
Biden, who has topped polls of likely Democratic challengers to Trump in 2020, has previously taken the president to task for his comments about women.
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Biden speaks at the Biden Courage Awards in New York City, March 2019.
He claimed at a March 2018 rally that if he were at high school he would "take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," with the president in response claiming that he would floor Biden in a physical confrontation.
The latest allegations against Biden emerged on Tuesday night, when two more women came forward to accuse Biden of unwanted and inappropriate touching.
President Trump: "[Biden] is being taken care of pretty well by the socialists. They got to him. Our former Vice President. I was going to call him. I don't know him well. I was going to say, 'Welcome to the world, Joe. You having a good time, Joe?'" https://t.co/sYEfKs2ZzV pic.twitter.com/mvaRpl2pAg
- The Hill (@thehill) April 3, 2019