Biden's sister says RNC voting to pull out of presidential debate commission shows signs they're 'scared to debate'
Valerie Biden Owens, President Joe Biden’s sister and longtime campaign manager, appeared on The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday, where she weighed in on the vote taken by the Republican National Committee earlier in the day. In a move that wasn’t all that surprising given former President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints about presidential debates, the RNC voted unanimously to no longer take part in presidential debates in their current form, even going so far as to require presidential candidates to sign a pledge not to do so.
“If you don’t want to debate, it’s a sign that you’re scared to debate,” Owens said. “So I think it says it all in their walking away.”
Though she called it a sign of fear, Owens admitted to trepidation entering into the 2020 race.
“2020 was the only election that I was not enthusiastic about Joe getting in,” Owens said, “because I believed, and I was not disappointed in my expectations, that the former president would do anything he could to destroy my brother, and my family, and to go after them.”
But Owens said the president refused to walk away, citing his childhood impediment.
“Remember Joe, when he was a little kid, from the time he was a little kid, he stuttered terribly. He couldn’t string more than three or four words together at a time,” Owens said. “So he knows what it’s like to be bullied, and to be shunned and to be put in your place. And he said, ‘I am not walking away because of fear.’”
Video Transcript
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VALERIE BIDEN OWENS: If you don't want to debate, it's a sign that you're scared to debate. So I think it says it all, in their walking away.
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KYLIE MAR: President Joe Biden's sister and longtime campaign manager, Valerie Biden Owens, appeared on "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" Thursday, where she spoke about the Republican National Committee unanimously voting earlier in the day to no longer take part in presidential debates in their current form, even going so far as to require GOP presidential candidates to sign a pledge not to do so.
Though she called it a sign of fear, she admitted to trepidation entering into the 2020 race.
VALERIE BIDEN OWENS: 2020 was the only election that I was not enthusiastic about Joe getting in. Because I believed, and I was not disappointed in my expectations, that the former president would do anything he could to destroy my brother.
KYLIE MAR: But Valerie said the president's impediment as a child taught him not to run away because of fear.
VALERIE BIDEN OWENS: Remember, Joe, when he was a little kid, from the time he was a little kid, he stuttered terribly. He couldn't string more than three or four words together at a time. So he knows what it's like to be bullied and to be shunned and to be put in your place. And he said, I am not walking away because of fear.
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