Biden jokes Trump should have injected himself with bleach

By Jeff Mason

PORTOLA VALLEY, California (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden joked on Friday that he wished former President Donald Trump had injected himself with a little bleach, resurrecting one of Trump's more head-scratching moments from the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, at a fundraising event south of San Francisco for his re-election campaign, said the presidency of his Republican opponent was chaotic and that voters should keep that in mind. Biden and Trump are locked in a close contest ahead of the November election.

"Remember him saying the best thing to do is just inject a little bleach in your arm? That’s what he said. And he meant it. I wish he had done a little bit himself," Biden said.

During the early months of the pandemic in 2020, Trump said that an “injection inside” the human body with a disinfectant like bleach or isopropyl alcohol could help protect against the virus.

Biden also made light of what he called Trump's "love letters" from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, although Biden mistakenly referred to Kim as the president of South Korea.

Trump had met with Kim and exchanged a number of letters with him, copies of which he kept in a loose-leaf binder in the Oval Office.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden's remarks.

Biden has made light of Trump's bleach comment before, saying on April 24 in Washington that Trump had injected himself and "it all went to his hair."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by David Gregorio)