7:03
Biden also spoke about his role in Anita Hill's testimony during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing, when he served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee. Biden said he took \"responsibility\" for the way Hill was treated.
\"I believed her from the very beginning, but I was chairman. She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That's my responsibility,\" Biden said. \"As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.\"
Joe Biden tells @GMA he takes responsibility for Anita Hill’s treatment during Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearing.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 30, 2019
\"As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.” https://t.co/zIVKMzdStV pic.twitter.com/nNL1hKzfwR
The Bidens were interviewed ahead of the former vice president's first campaign event in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon -- where Biden made his pitch to union and working class voters, some of whom voted for President Donald Trump in 2016.
When asked how he would make his pitch to those voters with a strong economy under Trump, Biden said they should look at what Trump has actually done to improve their bottom line.
\"What I'd say is did you get any benefit from the tax cut? Have your wages really gone up to what you think you deserve? Do your employers treat you with any more respect and dignity than they did before?\" Biden said.
Pres. Trump’s slogan is “Make America Great Again.” Asked what his slogan may be, Joe Biden tells @RobinRoberts, “Make America Moral Again. Make America return to the essence of who we are, the dignity of the country ... treating our people with dignity\" https://t.co/zIVKMzdStV pic.twitter.com/xbkfS9QFgm
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 30, 2019
And Biden said he has a different take on Trump's \"Make America Great Again\" motto.
\"Make America moral again,\" Biden said after he was asked what his motto would be. \"Make America-- you know, return to the essence of who we are, the dignity of the country, the dignity of people, treating our people with dignity.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/joe-biden-the-view-02-abc-jc-190426_hpEmbed_9x8_384.jpg\")
With widespread name recognition, Biden emerges in the crowded field as a front-runner early. In the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday, 17 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents support Biden in an open-ended question. He also topped his Democratic rivals with an impressive $6.3 million fundraising haul in the first 24 hours of his campaign, according to an email to supporters.
Biden said he will dive into more policy specifics \"in the coming weeks,\" but weighed in on health care, saying he believed there should be an option to buy into a public option -- rather than Medicare for all.
\"We have to take what we already have and make sure that we don't cut it back. I think we have to significantly improve where we were and h-- make Medicare an option for all. You can buy into the system. But not Medicare across the board for everyone and eliminate private insurance,\" Biden said.
Joe Biden tells @GMA he's running for president for 3 basic reasons: \"To restore the soul of America,\" to restore \"the backbone of America, which is the working class,\" and \"we have to unite the country\" https://t.co/NUhIoWr7nq pic.twitter.com/JRBxzag5X7
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 30, 2019
On special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation, Biden said he doesn't believe Democrats should push to impeach Trump yet, rather Congress should continue its investigations. But Biden didn't take impeachment totally off the table.
\"There are elements of the report in the second phase of the report -- about seven or eight things that are left undone. [Mueller] was not within his purview to investigate, he thought. The Congress is attempting to take that up,\" Biden said.
\"What the Congress should do, and they are doing, is investigating that. And if in fact-- if in fact they block the investigation, they have no alternative but to go to the only other Constitutional resort they have, which is impeachment. But my job in the meantime is to make sure he's not back as president of the United States of America.\"
When asked about fellow 2020 candidate Sen. Cory Booker's pledge to have a female running mate, Biden said it would be \"presumptuous\" for him to decide anything now, but did say he wants a staff that reflects the make up of the United States.
\"If you take a look at most of my staff. I mean, they reflect who we are. Men, women, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic -- Latino. I mean, so it would be a government that would represent everyone. Who that would be if I were fortunate enough to win-- I have -- I haven't made that decision,\" the former vice president said.
Dr. Biden agreed that it was too soon to pick a running mate, and said while it would be important to her to see a woman on the ticket, having someone 'qualified' for the job was most important.
The former senator who represented Delaware formally entered the presidential race last week as the 20th Democrat vying for the nomination and the opportunity to take on President Donald Trump next year. He released a video posted on social media in which he sought to carve out his own lane amid a crowded Democratic primary by taking direct aim at Trump and staking his candidacy on a \"battle for the soul of this nation.\"
While Biden is seen by some as a more moderate candidate than some of his 2020 Democratic challengers, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the former vice president recently said he has “one of the most progressive records of anyone running,”—a statement he defended.
Joe Biden to @GMA: \"Whether I win the nomination is going to depend on the Democrats and whether or not I beat Donald Trump is going to depend on the American people. But like I said, everybody knows who Donald Trump is\" https://t.co/NUhIoWr7nq pic.twitter.com/4HemuBV7ys
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 30, 2019
“I was always labeled as one of the most liberal members of the United States Congress. If it makes you progressive to mean that you are for Medicare for All or it makes it progressive, then that wasn't the standard of what constituted in the past what is progressive,” Biden said.
“All during my career as a senator and as vice president-- the things that we did in the United States-- as president and vice president of the United States, I thought they were ... pretty progressive.”
Despite large differences in policy, Biden believes the Democratic party is more united than they have been in the past—and isn’t looking to break bad on his fellow Dems.
“I've adopted a rule my whole career, never speak ill of another Democrat,” Biden said. “I respect all the people in there running. I really do, all 20 of 'em. They're s-- they all have different talents and some-- a lotta the same talents. But the truth of the matter is that it's not about-- I'm not running against them.”
ABC News' Kendall Karson contributed to this report.
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