Biden Adviser Responds to Pres. Trump’s Election Delay Tweet

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I wonder if you are able to process, a day that began with the current president casting doubt on the election, and the president you served rousingly urging people to go out and vote in November.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SENIOR FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER, JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT: Well, you’re right, Christiane, it started with a real low with President Trump. But, right now, we have this incredible high. I just listened to Former President Obama. You know, John Lewis really was the soul of our nation. He experienced us at our worst. He summoned us to our best. And it’s an incredibly powerful legacy. And President Obama paid wonderful tribute to it today, but not as something backward-looking, as something forward-looking, to use, to be inspired by the life that John Lewis led, to march forward, to carry on. So, I found it inspiring. And the low was certainly what President Trump tweeted this morning. But look, we know what’s going on here. You know, back in April, Vice President Biden said it was only a matter of time until President Trump floated the idea of delaying the election, even though it’s not in his power to do so. And at the time the Trump campaign said that Vice President Biden was being irresponsible, launching a conspiracy theory. It turns out that Joe Biden knows their boss better than they do. Because what President Trump is always trying to do is deflect and distract. And what he doesn’t want us talking about today is another dramatic increase in unemployment claims and the worst-ever quarterly drop in GDP in our country’s history, on his watch, because he failed to act to get this COVID crisis under control. The vice president — Biden said today, what’s happening to Americans is not an act of God, it’s a failure of President Trump’s leadership.

AMANPOUR: Tony Blinken, do you think that this suggestion, this tweet, which was actually accompanied by a load of question marks earlier today, this floating of this idea of delaying the vote, is this something that the Biden administration or rather the Biden campaign can do about it? We have already seen senior Republicans not follow President Trump on this. They have not, as they often do, rush to, you know, confirm or affirm some of his tweets.

BLINKEN: Well, Christiane, really, again, I think this is about the president trying to deflect and distract, to take our eye off of, for example, the service for John Lewis today, and the starkest possible contrast between his leadership and that the of the John Lewis or Barack Obama. And as important to take our attention away from the terrible numbers that came out on the economy, because of the COVID crisis and because of his failure of leadership. So, that’s what this is about. It is not within the president’s power to delay the election. And it was gratifying, of course, to hear senior Republicans make that clear.

AMANPOUR: Can I ask you about foreign policy? Which is one of the things I wanted to talk about. And I pointed out that not only, you know, is this situation going on inside America, about outside, here, in Europe, people are looking on with alarm at a very real threat, and the order now from President Trump to remove some 12,000 U.S. troops that have been defending democracy and freedom in Europe, move them from Germany. Tell me why you think that’s happening and would a Biden administration reverse that move?

BLINKEN: So, Christiane, this move is foolish, it’s spiteful, and it’s a strategic loser. It weakens NATO, it helps Vladimir Putin, and it harms Germany, our most important ally in Europe. And it’s being done because President Trump doesn’t like Angela Merkel and is trying to find ways to take a dig at her. And now, we have the secretary of defense, Secretary Esper, desperately trying to come up with some kind of ex post facto rationale for what is the president’s vindictive and itchy Twitter finger. And you know when the president first announced this, some weeks ago, he caught his own Defense Department and our allies, including Germany, by surprise. So, this makes no sense. It only makes us weaker, it only harms NATO, it only harms or allies and does nothing good for us.