The Young Turks - Joe Biden Called Out By Multiple Women For Acting Creepy

Episode Date: April 2, 2019

Joe Biden has a creepy history with women. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Hey, guys, you've heard of the Young Turks podcast because you're listening to it right now. But make sure that you subscribe and give it a five star rating if you like it. Thank you for listening. Well, the Young Church, Jake, you granted, Kusperi, it's exciting Monday. This exciting Monday.

I'm jazzed. Some of you have talked about chipping in to buy me new jackets. Really? Oh, man. Come on, this was relatively new. What do you mean? Why would they need to chip in? I thought we were corporate sellouts.

Can you buy your own jackets? So, referring to the blue jackets that I often wear on this show. I do have two of them, though, to be fair to me. The light blue? No, no, no, two dark blue ones. Oh, okay. But anyway, how's everything going for you? everything going for you, Casper.

Fine. I don't really think it's an exciting Monday, but- I agree to disagree. We'll get to why it's exciting in a second. Sure. Any woodworking over the weekend? Yes, yes. We're going to talk about woodworking in the post-game show.

How did I know? How did I know? I have videos. She has videos. Yeah, and I'm going to discuss the merit of using automatic sanding tools versus manual sanding. It's a big debate. It's a huge debate, huge debate.

We're trying to figure out what's going on. All right, so obviously we want to get the postgame, t.com slash join. And yes, you can get it for a week free, t.yt.com slash trial. Okay, now, we're gonna get the Biden in one sec, so you're gonna, and that's a wild and woolly story. I don't know what you think about it, Anna, yet, I'm curious to find out on air, that'll be fun. Later in the story, some, later in the show, I should say some serious stories, another

Unarmed African-American man shot this time not by cops and there is an arrest, but this story is pretty brutal. And then the Trump administration is now has a whistleblower saying, yeah, they give security clearances to 25 people that should not have gotten them. So that's a fascinating story. That's a little bit later in the program as well. But with all that being said, Casper, let's get started. All right. A former politician or nominee, I should say, for Lieutenant Governor in Nevada has come out

with an article detailing an experience that she had with Joe Biden back in 2014 during a campaign event. Her name is Lucy Flores and she published the details of her encounter with Joe Biden in the cut. And I'm gonna read you a few excerpts from it. She says, as I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze.

Why is the vice president of the United States touching me? She continues to write, I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, I didn't wash my hair today and the vice president of the United States is smelling it. And also what the actual F, why is the vice president of the United States smelling my hair? He proceeded to plant a big, slow kiss on the back of my head.

My brain couldn't process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. I couldn't move and I couldn't say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience. Now Biden was at the event in an effort to help get Democrats elected, you know, throughout the country.

This is what, you know, members of the party usually do. And she was excited about it. She seemed to be a fan of Biden. And then after this encounter, she saw him in a completely different light. And I can understand why. So lots of controversy surrounding this, a lot of people defending Joe Biden in a way that is not usual in a story like this. Whoopi Goldberg has jumped in, Mika Brasinski, let alone the political figures, and some of the

women involved in previous close encounters with Joe Biden. I have about seven things to say, and I'm not exaggerating. But first, I'd like to establish some set of facts. And I think that here we're going to be as unbiased as we can possibly be, because we are not on the right wing who revels in this type of stuff and throwing Democrats under a bus. We are not proponents of Joe Biden within the Democratic Party. And so I think we're going to come at this from his objective as places we can be. Obviously we try to do that every day.

But there's a good example of no one can say that we really have a dog in the fight. in a sense, politically, right? So first of all, first conclusion is obvious. What Biden does and has been doing for a long time is weird. So can I get agreement on that? Absolutely. I think that one of the things that Biden is known for is doing, being like the weird uncle, right?

I've heard that way before these types of accusations came out, right? He doesn't really understand the importance of personal space. He'll get in women's personal space. And, you know, of course, there are pundits and everything who have commented on it. But I think that this was a long established characteristic of Bidens. Now, it's never been presented in any type of predatory way, but this is the first time that we've heard from a woman who is very clear and how uncomfortable she was from that encounter.

Yes, number two, I don't think that it necessarily means that it's sexual, though it could be. What's your take on that? I don't know. Yeah, so meaning not necessarily, but I wouldn't rule it out either. I mean, if it was just a random person. If it was Roy Moore, within that context, I'd be like, yeah, it's probably sexual given his history.

Now no one, including now a couple of women that have come forward about Biden, have ever said that it was sexual. So there's not good evidence for that in this context. Okay, but I grant that smelling a woman's hair could be, okay? So number three, this is very important. It doesn't mean that he has bad intent, though I'm not sure, I'm sure that it matters. I'm not sure that it is dispositive, I should say. So Anna, bad intent, yes or no, have any idea?

I don't know. Here's what I do know. I know that no one has the right to put their hands on anyone. And if, remember, this encounter was not with two people who had known each other personally, who had interacted with one another face to face. This was literally the first time Lucy Flores came face to face with Joe Biden. And so I think about men in my life, in my professional environment, people who I work with on a regular basis touching me like that.

And I'm gonna be clear, it is beyond unacceptable. But then when you think about someone in a giant position of power like Joe Biden doing that, after you met him for the first time, I mean, come on, it's, he should know better. I don't know what his intent is, I don't know what's in his mind, I don't know what's in his heart. But I do know is that this type of physical contact is unacceptable. Yeah, and so I think that it is possible that it's old school. That does not justify it at all. I'm gonna get to what that means in a second.

And it's also, I think, possible that no one had the temerity to tell him, although it's fairly obvious. Now, a lot of people don't have the temerity to tell Donald Trump anything because he's so insecure. I don't know about Biden. So Lucy Flores says in her article, first time she came out with it, that she can't quite believe that no one said anything to him about it, especially because there have been articles written about it, et cetera.

But people in power are almost never challenged. So I'm not, I wouldn't be shocked if no one had a conversation with them about it. But at least a point number four, the main thing that you were saying, Anna, which is could this make women uncomfortable? The overwhelming answer is obviously, obviously it could make them uncomfortable. Again, I'm just, you said it already, but I'm just gonna go a little further. I mean, if anyone at work came up and smelled, put their hands on your shoulders, smelled your hair and then kissed the back of your head.

I mean, they get punched in the face. Like, let's keep it real. And I think most of the men here know that. All of the men here know that. And so, but that's the thing. The men here just know better, right? So I'll give you an example. Every once in a while, I need help getting miced, right?

I might wear a complicated dress or top and so I can't do it on my own. And when the men here at TYT helped me get miced, they're very cautious. They tell me what they're about to do. There's a lot of communication going on. And so there's no room for misinterpretation. There's no room for me to feel uncomfortable or wonder what the intentions are. And in this case, for anyone, much less Biden, to feel entitled to put his hands on a woman in this way and then plant a kiss on the back of her head, again, I'm gonna keep going

back to the word unacceptable, because that's what it is. So I have a couple more points, and we have a couple more cases about Biden that we're going to get to. I just want to say, look, I don't know that this is disqualifying. I don't know that it's my job to tell you whether it's disqualifying or not. Sometimes it is, we do a talk show. If something's really bad, we'll say, yeah, that's disqualifying. What Roy Moore did with kids when he was in his 30s, disqualifying, even though it was many

years ago, et cetera, right? And so it is partly what we do for a living. I know it's a little absurd that that's what we do for a living. But in this case, I'm not positive that it's disqualifying, but and I give you that note of caution as like, I don't know that it's my place because is it my place to tell women what they are and are not uncomfortable with to the point where they would say I don't want to vote for that guy under any circumstances? That's of course a decision that women voters and male voters have to make as they go in.

But I don't think that, yeah, so, but it could be not disqualifying and something important to discuss anyway so that we stop this so-called tradition or culture that some older Americans are more used to, right? Maybe they genuinely think, hey, there's nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't be surprised by that, that they genuinely believe that. I wouldn't be surprised if they were, I don't know, as they were into it, right? I wouldn't be surprised either way. But if they think there's nothing wrong with it, it's super important for people to have

a discussion telling them, no, there is something wrong with it. Women are made uncomfortable by it, don't do that. And so that alone justifies this conversation. I think about societal expectations and how we are expected to conduct ourselves or business in public settings, right? And so does culture change? Of course. Are we expected to adapt and evolve along with our culture?

Of course. And so why is it that average Americans are held to that high standard, but someone like Joe Biden, who is possibly going to run for the highest office in this country, not going to be held by that same standard, right? So our language has changed, certain words that used to be acceptable or no longer acceptable. And again, we grow, we learn, we might make mistakes, but we readjust. You think Biden hasn't heard about the creepy uncle comments? You think he's completely unaware and in the dark about that stuff?

But there is some chance that he is, and I don't know that that speaks well of him either. So let me give you a more important context. So look, one point is what Anna makes, which is that this has been in the news for a long time. Lucy Flores made the same point. It shouldn't take Biden by surprise. On the other hand, as we've told you on this show for now over a decade, we've told you, Our personal experience with Biden, it's just two experiences that I had talked about it in

the post games for the members, and I've talked about it on old school and on this program. He is a close talker, whether you are male or female. And so you can go back and see us talking about it. It's not a matter of defending him, it's just a matter of reality, okay? So I remember back in 1988, when I ran into him at the Penn Bookstore, he immediately comes up to me and starts talking to me super close. in 2004, they put together, get together in Washington, the Democrats did for progressive talk show hosts.

I run into Biden, we talk about Iraq, he doesn't know me at all. I'm sure he doesn't remember me from 88 when I was a student, and he's like this close to my face as he's explaining Iraq policy to me. So it is a peculiarity of Joe Biden, so it's not like, when people say that, it's not a BS defense. That part is true. No, I totally understand that. I think the close talking and the invasion of personal space in that way is, it might be uncomfortable,

right? But it's different from someone placing his or her hands on you. And so in the case of Biden, it wasn't just the fact that he put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in close. He kissed the back of her head. Like, are we having a debate about what kissing means and what kissing, you know, the connotation, Right? Behind kissing.

Like kissing the back of a stranger's head at a professional event, at a political event, you have to know better than that. So again, we're gonna show you some of the other women and what they said in a second. But remember guys, Biden also did this with young girls on national television. So some will take that and say, aha, the counter argument to that is he's not so stupid that if he thought it was sexual, that he would do it on national television with underage girls. So, you know, it's- At the same time though, and not to compare Biden to Trump, but Trump

uses that strategy on a regular basis. Hey, I'm doing all these criminal things out in the open. I'm not trying to hide it, so I must be doing, I must not be doing anything wrong. Well, that'll lead me to 0.5 real quick if that's the one we're on. No Republicans are allowed to talk about this. Us Democrats and progressives can have real honest conversations about it. who are thrilled with Donald Trump, who brags about sexually assaulting women by grabbing their private parts because he's famous and he can get away with it, let alone a thousand

other horrific things he has said and done to women. You're not allowed to talk as if you care because you don't care. And every action you've ever taken shows that you don't care. So please spare us your crocodile tears as you try to wade into this conversation, which you have no business in. And one other thing I want to add to this is people need to consider how their actions and the way they interact with others makes them feel, right? How it makes the person that they're interacting with feel.

And I don't think that Biden took a moment, regardless of what his intent was, regardless of whether or not this was meant to be sexual, I don't think he took a single moment to consider how his physical interaction with this woman would make her feel. And she actually writes about it in the cut. She says, he was there to promote me as the right person for the lieutenant governor job. Instead, he made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused. The vice president of the United States of America had just touched me in an intimate way reserved

for close friends, family, or romantic partners. And I felt powerless to do anything about it. So Biden didn't consider the power dynamic there. He didn't consider the fact that here's a woman who's running for a political position. who's about to give a speech at a rally, and he just, without really thinking about it, decided to engage in this physical way. So he needs to learn. I don't know if he's in this bubble with a bunch of people who just say yes to everything

he wants. But regardless, we should expect better from people in positions of power. We should expect him to evolve along with the culture. It's not the 1950s, it's not the 1960s. We're now in 2019, at the time that this happened, it was 2014, and you should know better than to put your hands on someone like that in a professional setting without their consent. So Anna, would it affect your decision to whether to vote for him or not? Now let's keep it real, we're more progressive than Biden, as you're not likely to vote

for him in the first place, and we're honest with our audience about such things. But if you were predisposed, would this be something that makes you reconsider? It really depends on how he reacts to it and whether he is apologetic and willing to learn or if he's being defiant, right? And so he did respond to this and we'll get to it in just a second. But I thought about it, not in the context of Biden, but I thought about it in the context of a politician whose policies I do support. And that's Bernie Sanders. And to be quite honest with you, had Bernie Sanders done the exact same thing to another young woman, I would have reservations about voting for him.

I'm just being honest with you. Yeah, well, of course, that's what we want. So, you know, I don't know that I feel the same way and maybe I have male privilege, right? So not just the Bernie Sanders, but I thought about it also with Elizabeth Warren. If Elizabeth Warren was known for kissing guys in the back of the head, which seems inconceivable, right? Would that then automatically disqualify her in my mind if all those men were made uncomfortable by it, and I'm not sure that it would.

And I think that it is based on age, and yes, a difference in culture. And so that doesn't excuse actions, but I don't know, again, if that is dispositive, meaning that's the only thing I'm going to consider. Her work on regulating the banks is wonderful, and if there was a misunderstanding across the generations, I don't know that I would think that that was enough of an issue to stop me from voting for the person that I thought was the best qualified and the best person to be president. If, but this is super important, if I'm convinced that it was unintentional, that there was

no bad intent. Right. Yeah, that is important. But at the same time, I think the difference in our perspective here really has to do with our ability to put ourselves in Lucy Flores' shoes. So as I was reading her account, I was thinking about how I would feel in this type of context. if Joe Biden had done that to me, right? Because think about it, it's the vice president.

That alone makes you nervous, he's one of the most powerful people in the country. And I don't like to be touched, period, right? And having someone who's a complete stranger in that position of power putting his hands on me and having this like sense of entitlement to put his hands on me like that would not only make me feel uncomfortable, I think I'd be pretty angry. So think about a woman in your life, right? that you care deeply about and how you would react if the exact same thing happened to her, right?

I think maybe that'll help you understand the perspective of women a little better. And I don't mean to speak for all women. I just think that people don't really understand, especially older individuals, don't understand how seriously the younger generations take physical contact. Yeah, well, now let me give the perspective of men. And so now a lot of times in progressive circles, it's not a conversation that happens. But again, we're being honest here. And so now a lot of guys are worried, can I do anything, anything at all?

So for example, one politician got in trouble because he put his hand on the shoulder or the hip of a woman as they were taking a picture together. I mean, that- Okay, so but you know what I'm saying though? So it's not as clear cut as any side here is making it. So there's the aggrieved old school slash right wing, but a lot of plenty of left wing. I don't even think it's right wing. I think that that's just what the culture was like, it's like the 1950s.

Yeah, yeah, but I'm saying the current people who are some portion of the right wing can't stand Biden and love this, some portion of the right wing is like, come on, give the guy a break because of their natural inclinations, et cetera, right? I'm saying that old school crew, whatever their political motivation is. thinks like, Jesus Christ, I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know, can I touch, can I breathe, can I smile, can I not, et cetera. So I don't think it's right to dismiss them as, okay, they're all weirdos and they should, they all know, but they're secretly trying to touch women, et cetera.

No, I think they're genuinely confused, right? On the other hand, guys that are in that category, people that are in that category, understand that it is disconcerting for women if you come up and kiss them in the back of the head or smell their hair. That's weird. And it clearly obviously violates their, you know. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging. It's often your hormones, too. When they fall out of balance, everything feels off. But here's the good news. This doesn't have to be the story of your next chapter.

Hormone Harmony by Happy Mammoth is an herbal formula made with science-backed ingredients designed to fine-tune your hormones by balancing estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and even stress hormones like cortisol. It helps with common issues such as hot flashes, poor sleep, low energy, bloating, and more. With over 40,000 reviews and a bottle sold every 24 seconds, the results speak for themselves. A survey found 86% of women lost weight, 77% saw an improved mood, and 100% felt like themselves again. Start your next chapter feeling balanced and in control. For a limited time, get 15% off your entire first order at happy mammoth.com with code next chapter at checkout.

Visit happy mammoth.com today and get your old self back naturally. They're private space. And so, and look, different cultures have different, you know, ways of dealing with this. And if you're in China, by the way, there's a lot more personal contact on the streets. People bumping into each other as they move past you in the subways, the airplanes, et cetera, so every culture is slightly different, and our culture was slightly different. So it's okay to have these conversations and now say maybe going forward, let's be super clear about where the boundaries are without, and this is up to you guys, but without being necessarily

punitive for what happened in the old days. So it's annoying me that the Mika Brazinski's of the world are like, what's the big deal? There's no big deal. Joe's awesome. Joe. Joe's awesome. By the way, would they say the same thing if it was Bernie Sanders? I doubt it.

My guess is that they would not say the same thing, okay? But they all know and like Joe Biden, so they're like, there's no big deal at all. I don't think that's fair at all. And I think for other people saying, oh, no, he's the worst of the worst and et cetera, I'm not sure that's fair either. And so let's try to find a reasonable ground here. I'm gonna say one more thing about Lucy Flores. Nearly every article is describing her as a Bernie Sanders supporter.

So look, I can understand why that would be relevant. And if somebody queues Bernie Sanders is something and they were a huge Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Beto O'Rourke supporter, I could see how that would be relevant. But none of them mention that she left our revolution. She was on the board of our revolution, which was a group created by Bernie Sanders, and she left our revolution in what was, you know, in not great terms. And so that's also important context. They make it seem like she's on Bernie's bandwagon and always has, and like, and there appears

to be a wink and a nod attached to that every time that it is written. And so, and by the way, in her original article, she said the reason she was afraid of coming out is because they're gonna ask, why now, it's exactly what people are asking, why did it take you so long, I've heard it on television numerous times now, and was it, you know, her for a thousand different things. It's exactly what's happening right now. Yeah, it's the reason why women, some women, never even go public with these accusations, because they become victimized over again, especially in cases where there is clear sexual

assault, where the intentions are obvious, right? In this case, they're not obvious, but I do think this is an important discussion because for those who are older and who haven't caught on to the fact that society has, you know, has changed. It's time for you to catch on. It's time for you to adapt. You are not entitled to put your hands on anyone, period. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break here, guys. But we did promise you guys the stories of the other women. We do want to get to that when we return. And it's important, important context. We'll be right back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-Fing the Republic or UNFTR. As a young

Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary, and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York

Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, you must unlearn what you have learned. And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. All right, back on a young church. There's so many comments, obviously. I'll just keep it to the members, Kamala Harris is a cop, writes in, creepy old Uncle Joe treats woman like he's living

in the 1940s as chauvinistic and he would never touch a man in the same way, unacceptable. On the other hand, the liberal mom writes in, I'm from the Scranton area, I met him at a rally in 2008. He hugged me and whispered, thank you in my ear. I never felt uncomfortable. Most of the older men in this area will greet both male and female in that way. She has every right to feel the way that she does, but I'm giving my viewpoint. And that's important.

Yes, very important. Diana 1020 says, what about the videos of him creeping on little girls? People have to have noticed those instances too. We've talked about those on the show prior to any of this. So it is obviously a phenomenon that people are aware of. Dolores on the other hand says, many people from his generation would kiss us on the forehead, but we're living in a no touch time due to so many assaults on women, don't do Do it, she says.

Geez, a kiss on the four, like, I have never had a man who I'm not intimate with kiss me on the forehead. Like if a guy kiss me on the forehead who I'm not intimate with, he's not my partner, I would be insanely shocked. That, anyway. Right, but on the other hand, Jake, it's a kiss on the freaking forehead. No, no, no, hold on. I'm not saying that that's not bad.

I wouldn't do it and it's very unadvisable. Like, we don't even hug. No, no, I know, you and I, we try to stay very distant from each other. No, seriously though, although that is true. In Turkey, when I was 14, we went and one of my friends who grew up in Turkey, I of course moved here when I was eight, started holding my hand and walking through the streets, because that's what they did back in the day. And I was like, what, okay, but I was like, okay, that's the culture here.

So, but there is this giant cultural divide between Americans and based on age. I'm just saying let's, that's a fact and then how we adjust, the fact that we have to adjust is a fact and then everything else in the middle we have to talk about. Anyway, last one, I bathe in Devin Nunes's tears, writes in, age is not an excuse for inappropriate behavior. If you plan on running for elected office, you need to be aware of how your own conduct affects other people in this current age. So a lot of great perspectives there.

Thank you for sharing with us. And as I always tell you, we do the show together, we're all the young Turks. And if you want to be one of our members and have your comments read more frequently, t-y-t.com slash join. Okay, Anna, what's next? A second woman has come out with her perspective and her story with Joe Biden. And she's alleging that Joe Biden also touched her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. Her name is Amy Lapos, and she told the Hartford Current that Biden grabbed her by the head

and rub noses with her during a 2009 political fundraiser. Lapos said the alleged interaction occurred when she was volunteering at a fundraising luncheon for Representative Jim Himes, who she worked for as a congressional aid at the time. And finally, she says, quote, it wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by my head. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with. him or with me, when he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth. Now he didn't, he just rubbed noses with her. Yeah.

Creepy. Like don't do that. It's a bad idea. It's a bad idea. That's all I have to say about it. It is also amazing that it took the Me Too movement, it took a possible presidential run for someone to actually discuss this publicly. Because, you know, a lot of shows have made, you know, passing comments about Biden and

his interactions with women. We made more than passing comments throughout. We said, I don't know, why does he keep doing that? That's crazy. But, you know, there's this attitude that Lucy Flores correctly points out that boys will be boys and Biden will be Biden. And I have to confess that, you know, I've been guilty of thinking Biden will be Biden. No, no, you can't keep doing something wrong just because you've been doing it.

And look, it reminds me, this is maybe a weird example, but of the story out of one of Malcolm Gladwell's books about why the South Korean Airlines used to crash more often, it doesn't anymore, but it used to, and they couldn't figure out why the engines worked, everything worked well, the training was great, the reason was because in the Korean culture it was so wrong to correct an elder that the co-pilots would not correct the pilot. that even if he was gonna run into a mountain, and they would, they'd run into mountains, they'd crash the plane, everyone on board, including the co-pilot, the pilot, everyone would die, but the culture was so strong that they still wouldn't correct the pilot. And so that's how strong a culture can be. And so I understand that there was this culture where men got to do this to women and it was no big deal, hey, I'm calling you honey, I'm calling you sweetie, a lot of people still do that.

And a lot of people think there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. or touching the shoulders, touching the hair, smelling the hair, that's weird, that's really weird. Okay, but there's a range, there's a range, and there's this cultural divide. And so this is a great opportunity, whether you're going to judge Biden for it or not, to at least have that conversation so you tell the older generation, hey, the culture has changed, and that's not acceptable anymore. Now, Joe Biden did respond to what Lucy Flores shared in her piece in the cut, and he has not apologized for it. But what you're about to hear is a part of his statement and Lucy Flores's

reaction. Take a look. Vice President Biden and his team just released a statement just moments ago from Mr. Biden. Here's what it says, quote, in my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support, and comfort. And not once, never did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested, I did so, I will listen respectfully, but it was never my intention. We have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences and men should pay attention, and I will, unquote. What's your response?

Well, I certainly think that it's better than his first statement that they released on Saturday. I'm glad that he's willing to listen. I'm glad that he is clarifying his intentions. Frankly, my point was never about his intentions and they shouldn't be about his intentions. It should be about the women on the receiving end of that behavior. And this isn't the first time, and it wasn't the only incident where he was acting inappropriately with women. If he is saying that he never believed that that was inappropriate, then frankly, I think that's a little bit of a disconnect. And not being aware, a very sense of not being aware, of not being

aware because there has been documentation, both in photos, videos, stories that were written. Now, that being said, I think that part of the reason why I decided to finally say something is because those behaviors were not being taken very seriously. They were not being considered from the perspective of the woman on the other side of that power dynamic. So I want to add a little more to what Flores said. Look, Joe Biden was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Anita Hill hearings. And lately, he's been apologizing for the way that those hearings were conducted.

He's apologizing for the way that Professor Hill was treated during those hearings. And so I failed to understand how he could look back at the treatment of Anita Hill back then and understand the prevalence and the impact of harassment and somehow still not understand how some women would not want to be touched without consent, whether it's rubbing noses or a kiss on the back of the head in a professional setting. Like how is it that he didn't realize, oh, maybe the way that I behave around other women could make them uncomfortable and maybe I should really rethink this? Another thing I want to note is, look, I'm really tired of people trying to coddle presidential

candidates. I know he hasn't announced yet, but he is possibly going to run for president of the United States. And I would argue that the president of the United States should be in tune with what the culture is in the country and what is and is not acceptable behavior around men and women, right? is and is not considered going too far when it comes to physical contact. If we're gonna keep making excuses for someone who's gonna run for president of the United States, well then we get what we deserve, right?

We get a president who doesn't actually understand what our culture is and how much it's evolved since the 1960s. Yeah, I understand. You know, I'm just gonna keep emphasizing this one point. And the allegation I came from Amy Lapos today that Anna read you a little while ago, she went on to say there's absolutely a line of decency, there's a line of respect. Crossing that line is not grandfatherly, it's not cultural, it's not affection, it's sexism or misogyny.

And the caveat that I would put to that, or my, not caveat, but my interpretation of that is I just wanted everyone to acknowledge that maybe it's both. It is cultural and it's also sexist and misogynistic. So that maybe our culture grew up in a time when men were in charge and didn't have to care about women's feelings and didn't have to worry about it across the line if you kissed the woman in the back of her head or smelled her hair. So I just, the only thing I'm pushing back on is that it's not cultural because I can see it with my own eyes.

And you guys wrote in while we've been doing the show live, yes, for older generations, It's definitely cultural. But that doesn't mean that it's right, it doesn't mean that we should continue it. It's like, you know, when in the South they say, hey man, we're proud of our heritage and slavery is part of our heritage. Well, we shouldn't be proud of that. So some parts of your heritage were terrible. And it's okay to say, hey, I'm glad we got past that and we changed that part of our heritage.

So I think saying that it's not cultural makes it seem like Biden is the only one on the planet who's ever done it, and I don't think that's necessarily fair to him, and some of you might not care to be fair to him, but I don't think it's right, I don't think it's correct. On the other hand, saying that it's cultural doesn't mean that you could say, oh, so what? He's gonna keep on doing it, and it's no big deal, and anyone gets to do it because it was part of our culture. No, no. This is the time to draw the line.

By the way, we have a plethora of old white men running around in Congress. So are there a ton of stories of current members of Congress behavior? in this way? And do we make excuses for them by saying, oh, it's just a cultural disconnect? I don't know. Maybe there are other men who do the same thing and we just don't hear about it. But I would argue that he's not the only older man in politics right now. So anyway, that's another point.

I do want to get to another component of this story that is important and that has to do with a photo that has been going viral again. So. Stephanie Carter is former defense secretary Ash Carter's wife. And when Ash Carter was being sworn in as defense secretary during the Obama administration, there was a photo featuring Stephanie Carter and Joe Biden that went viral. Now, it's going viral again, especially considering the piece that Stephanie Flores wrote in the cut, where she talks about an uncomfortable physical interaction she had with Biden.

And so this is a favorite for the right wing. They love to share this image and make it appear that Joe Biden is some sort of, you know, sexual predator. But I do think it's important to share the perspective of Stephanie Carter and she did come public and or go public with her reaction to this. So here's what she writes. By the time then Vice President Biden had arrived, he could sense I was uncharacteristically nervous and quickly gave me a hug.

After the swearing in as Ash was giving remarks, he leaned in to tell me, thank you for letting him do this and kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support. But a still shot taken from a video, misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends, sent out in a snarky tweet, came to be the lasting image of that day. I thought it would be, I thought it would all blow over if I didn't dignify it with a response, but clearly that was wishful thinking. I won't pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me.

So she's arguing that this photo, which might make it appear that I was uncomfortable, is not giving people my views, my real views. And my real view is, no, there was nothing wrong with that, he didn't do anything that made me uncomfortable. Look, so I'm split on this one too. Of course I believe her, and that was the day that her husband was being sworn in his defense secretary, and it turns out they've been friends with the Bidens for a long time, and she had, she slipped on the ice or whatever, so she was actually uncomfortable, and

Biden did soothe her, and since they've been friends a long time, there's nothing untoward, et cetera, I believe every part of that. The word soothe is uncomfortable. Yes, I hear you on that too. But did she look a little uncomfortable as Joe Biden, you know, is inside her hair? His noses at least as, you know, lies himself, lies itself in her hair. Of course she was uncomfortable. Come on. And look, if this was the only picture and the only time, I'd say, hey, you know, people are exaggerating.

She says there was nothing wrong with her. Let's move on. And my, our original co-host, Ben Mangwitz says, pictures don't tell us. thousand words they lie. And so it's just a moment in time. On the other hand, we have seen and we have shown on this show countless times that Joe Biden has done to different women and girls. So it's not like it doesn't happen, it definitely happens.

And that's why Lucy Flores and Lappos and some others are now coming forward and saying, hey, you know what, we were uncomfortable with it. He shouldn't do that anymore, at a bare minimum. So Stephanie Carter, to be fair to her, was not uncomfortable with it. And so you shouldn't speak on her behalf because she had no problems with it at all. And that's an important thing to remember because with the Me Too movement, we've all seen people exploit that movement in order to put words in the mouths of other women, in order to make a big deal out of a situation that the woman in question didn't have an issue with.

I think that that's the wrong way to go about it as well. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't take someone like Stephanie Flores seriously because what she's bringing up- Lucy Flores. I'm sorry, Lucy Flores, we shouldn't take that seriously because what she has to say is relevant. It's important. And regardless of what Biden's intentions were there, she was uncomfortable without physical contact and he should be aware of it and not make excuses about how there's some sort of cultural divide or disconnect.

Yeah, last thing on this is now they're asking all the presidential candidates. And Klobuchar said, I have no reason not to believe Lucy Flores. Does anyone not believe Lucy Flores? Yeah, everybody believes her, right? It'd be kind of weird not to believe her. The question is whether you think that that's a disqualifying, a big deal, a small deal, a mid-sized deal. That's the question at hand. And so now all the candidates are having to say that they believe her, Elizabeth Warren,

Julian Castro. I don't know, it's a pet peeve of mine. Stop asking that. It puts them in an unwinnable situation, it's not fair to those candidates. I got no love for Klobuchar as, you know, in terms of ideology, I'm not on her side of the Democratic Party. But what do you, I mean, is she supposed to say Biden is guilty, she's supposed to say Biden's not guilty, what is she supposed to say?

So it just puts all the other candidates in a weird spot. And it's not for them to necessarily judge. And if somebody wants to jump out and quote unquote take advantage of it, that would be a different situation, right? But if you're asking the candidates and getting in their grill, and then now, of course, the new parlor game is we're going to judge every word of every other candidate about what they said about this potential candidate. Okay, that part you should let go.

Let's focus on what the real issue is, which is drawing a line and saying that this stuff is not acceptable anymore, even if you thought it was in the past, a lot of people don't think it was acceptable in the past, but even if you believe that, you gotta stop it now. When we come back from the break, we are gonna switch gears and talk about a deposition that was made public featuring Alex Jones. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them.

It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers. ExpressVPN also encrypts 100% of your network data to protect you from eavesdroppers and cybercriminals. And it's also easy to install. A single mouse click protects all your devices. But listen, guys, this is important. ExpressVPN is rated number one by CNET and Wired magazine.

So take back control of your life online and secure your data with a top VPN solution available, ExpressVPN. And if you go to ExpressVPN.com slash TYT, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for TYT fans. That's EX, P-R-E-S-S-V-N dot com slash T-YT. Check it out today. We hope you're enjoying this free clip from the Young Turks. If you want to get the whole show and more exclusive content while supporting you. independent media, become a member at t-y-t.com slash join today. In the meantime, enjoy this free second. All right, back on a young Turks.

Lots of comments. They keep rolling in on Biden. We'll get to Alex Jones in a second. A collecting miscellaneous says Biden wants to be president of the United States. We should hold him to a higher standard. Women are over 50% of the population. If there's a legitimate question about whether or not his actions are appropriate towards women, then he should not have our support as a candidate.

Gabby, Marita says if Joe Biden doesn't want to apologize, he should at least show a change of behavior. But these encounters keep on happening. It's been continuously been pointed out to him that it's creepy and he doesn't care, he's not sorry. The only thing I'll say, Gabby is I'm not, it's been pointing out by us and others. I'm not sure that anyone in his, you know, that he knows is pointed out to him. But like, where is he, like a bunker somewhere?

He doesn't- But a lot of people in power are in a bunker somewhere, and everyone is afraid to tell them things that are super obvious. So it's possible, but it's also possible that they told them many times and he keeps on doing it. That's also possible. All right. So Pork Chop Express says, he's only apologizing now because he wants to run and knows how important the female vote is in the Democratic Party, which is of course certainly possible.

He didn't come out and apologize in the middle of nowhere, right? M says, dude, everything is cultural. Life in general is cultural for us humans. Yes, Joe Biden's behavior is a holder from old school culture, but damn it, we're moving on. And if you're not coming with us, Joe, leave us the hell alone. And then finally on a lighter note, smooth, this may should brighten up your day, Anna, says not only is he interested in your woodworking, he says, Anna, I will offer you $1,000

to do a coffee table for me. What? Wow. Oh, I just got real excited. Yeah. Okay. Real excited. Now watch, I'm gonna ruin our mode completely.

April Fool's Day. Oh. Oh. Okay, smooth. Okay. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Smooth didn't do the April Fool's. I did.

I'm sorry, Smooth, that I use your name because you write in all the time. Okay. No. No. No. Oh, you're gonna get it. Okay. You're gonna get it.

Okay. You just wait. So I set up the woodworking thing from the beginning so I could deliver that. That brief moment was literally the highlight of, I was gonna say my day, but probably my year. So far. And you ruined it. I'm sorry. Thanks.

No, no. Do you not know who I am? Do you not know that I hold on to that grudge and I find my retaliation one way or the other? Grudges are going to be held. That's what's going to happen. Look, in the post game, I'm going to tell you more disastrous April Fool jokes that I have done. Okay. TYT.com slash join where I will, look, what I did to my kids this morning, I shouldn't

have done that either. Okay. Jimmy Kimmel should have been recording it at a minimum. How dare you use Smooth's name in vain? I know, right? I'm so sorry, Smooth. I did not ask for your consent. It's my fault.

Okay. So anyways, let's go forward. We got a lot of show for you guys. Quick announcement though, this week on Thursday night, I am going to be on Rebel Radio. And Rebel Radio is a podcast, super exciting. And what I love about this is that it is taped in, I love it, I just said taped. The podcast happens in front of a live audience at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. And there are free tickets available for our members.

So if you are an activist member and you requested to go to this event, you should have gotten an email by now asking to confirm that you're going to attend. Please respond to that email and confirm because if you're not going to attend, we want to make sure we have some space opened up for other members who are interested in going. If you are a member or if you are a person who wants to go, you can actually purchase your tickets at rebelradio.net slash events, rebel radio.net slash events, okay, moving on. Alex Jones is facing multiple lawsuits from the parents who lost their lives in the Sandy Hook shooting. Now the reason why he's facing these lawsuits is because he has alleged that it was a hoax, a false flag

operation and that these parents are nothing more than crisis actors. And that has led to his viewers targeting these parents and harassing them, which of course is a horrible thing to even imagine, especially after they lost members of their families in these shootings. Now the deposition that Alex Jones was part of has just been made public. And the reason why it's been made public, this is very unusual, is because Alex Jones continues to talk about this case. And so the lawyers who are representing the families here are like, well, if he's going to try

to adjudicate this in a public setting with his audience, it only makes sense that we're also transparent and we share the deposition with the public. And that's what they've done. And what we're about to show you is a few examples of what he had said during the deposition. First, we begin with some examples of terrible things that he said about the victims. and their families throughout the years. Take a look. Mr. Jones, I want to show you some video clips of some things you were saying as news broke

of Sandy Hook and in a video that that day that you titled Connecticut School Massacre looks like false flag says witnesses. Can you play the clip Day of Sandy Hook? But get a hold of your cousin when she settles down and get her to talk to us. for any other information. We need to know were there any drills that day or the day before. Does she know did she have anything about

other shooters or was it, does she never saw the shooters? Well, I had asked that if it was supposed to be too, because they didn't have a lot of security at that school. You have to ring a door on in order to get me to the school. Yeah, of course, which is another side of that's, you know, one of these federal model schools.

You've heard me say, look for a big mass shooting at schools. You've heard me, we've got to find the clubs the last two months. probably said it 20 times. So don't ever think the globalists that have hijacked this country wouldn't stage something like this. They kill little kids all day, every day. And it's not our government.

It's the globalist. And that is an inside job right there. Either way you cut it. I bet money. That woman was a super liberal. I bet money. Because that's what I said. I said, I bet he's in his 20s, a big video gamer, a trendy.

Well, notice it didn't have the last few years. And now that Obama's coming in with gut control, magically these shootings are popping. People got to find the clips the last two months. I said they are launching attacks. They're getting ready. I can see them warming up with Obama. They've got a bigger majority in the Congress now in the Senate. They are going to come after our guns, look for mass shootings.

And then magically it happens. They are coming. They are coming. So the Posner family who unfortunately lost their child in the Sandy Hook shooting were harassed constantly by Alex Jones viewers. In fact, the harassment and the threats of violence were so significant that they had to move seven different times. They eventually found themselves in a highly secure gated community because they were afraid

for their lives. Now again, this is following the shooting that led to the loss of their child. And so this is a serious story, this is a serious situation. And Alex Jones has not really been apologetic about it. He's already laid out what his defense is in this case, and I'll give you his defense in just a second, but, Jank, I want you to react. I just have a quick side note here. Did Obama wind up taking away your guns?

Like not just Alex Jones, but a lot of the right wing theorized? Oh, right, he didn't. None of their conspiracy theories ever came true. He never locked you up in FEMA camps. He never reconstituted the Ottoman Empire as Louis Gomer charged. He never took away the guns. When are you gonna stop listening to insane right wingers? They are never, ever right.

All right, now let's get to his defense, because that's what shows you that it was always not real. And for those of you who took it seriously, kind of pathetic. So I'm actually going to skip ahead to video seven. By the way, all of those clips that Alex Jones was shown, he argued, were taken out of context. You saw it? What do you mean? Take it out of context?

Exactly, exactly. But he has shared what his defense is going to be with his audience, which again is part of the reason why this deposition was made public. Now with that said, video seven where Jones lays out his defense. And I've, you know, I myself have almost like a form of psychosis back of the past where I basically thought everything was staged, even though I've now learned a lot of times things aren't staged. So, you know, I think as a pundit and someone giving opinion that, you know, my opinions

have been wrong, but they were never wrong consciously to hurt people. So he's arguing that he is suffering from psychosis? Look, great, great, no, look, every Alex Jones fan understand that the guy you look up to is psychotic and that's his big defense. Look, it's psychosis, I'm a lunatic. And so when I tell you that there's conspiracy theories, don't believe me, because I'm acting under a condition of psychosis. Okay, are you gonna still watch him?

So which one is it? Does he actually believe it that all these conspiracy theories actually do happen? And in which case the parents have every right in the world to sue him and take all of his money and et cetera, et cetera, for the damages that he has caused him? Or are you all going to agree, he's either been faking it as he explained in a previous case? He said, oh, I'm just an actor, I'm just an actor playing a role, right? I mean, isn't that hilarious? Because the right wing then came up with another conspiracy theory saying that AOC is just

an actress? Right. It's all projection. And so now he says, oh, when I'm not acting, I'm psychotic, agreed, agreed. That is one thing we're all on the same page on. So according to the Washington Post, Jones refused in this deposition to acknowledge whether his actions added to the grief and distress of those who had lost loved ones in the shooting, and he claimed the lawsuits filed against him were retaliatory for Hillary Clinton's failed

presidential bid in the 2016 election. Because everything goes back to Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid in 2016. By the way, he was spreading these ridiculous conspiracy theories well before 2016. This was happening almost immediately after the shooting took place. On the day of the shooting, we just showed you. Exactly. So one final part of the deposition that stood out that I thought would be important to share with you guys.

Let's take a look. Over the years, there started to develop tension between you and the Sandy Hook parents after they started complaining about what you were doing, correct? No. Okay, no tension. You will admit, I mean, you've done mocking imitations of Sandy Hook parents crying, correct? No. I want to play you a video clip too.

you a video clip two from September 24th, 2014, and November 11th, 2016. We play the video clip called Crying. And then you've got parents laughing, and then they walk over some camera and go, not just one, but a bunch of parents doing this. And we see footage of one of the reported fathers of the victims, Robbie Parker, doing classic acting training, where he's laughing and joking. And they say, hey, we're live. And he goes, Oh, and maybe that's real. I'm sure it is. You realize now you were mocking the difficult emotional reactions of people who provably lost their children.

No, I was not mocking. I was showing what people were questioning. It was not to mock the parents. It was showing why people were questioning. It's you that is projecting mocking onto it. I was showing what he did. I would know a thing or two about mocking. I've mocked the right wing relentlessly for many years.

When you go, that's mocking. I don't think anyone thinks that that isn't mocking. But they like to deny reality, that's why he's in the current situation that he's in now. He said over and over again, we all saw it with our eyes a thousand times over. They have all the evidence on it, they have all the videos, they're all public of him stating all these insane conspiracy theories, him mocking the parents. And what's amazing about it is that he then turn us around. And as Anna was pointing on the last, after the last clip we showed, all of a sudden now

he's the victim. Yes. Yes. He's like, oh my God, they're all coming after me because the Hillary Clinton election, et cetera. No, no, but you terrorize these families. You, even if you didn't know on day one, first of all, any sane adult should know, although to be fair to him, he now he says he's psychotic. But even if you didn't know at that time, after the parents said, you know, he said, you know, he

said, we are getting nonstop death threats from your followers. And this is not like, hey, somebody says something online that's mean, that happens every day. And no, the positives are to move seven times because there were credible threats on their lives from Alex Jones viewers, and you still kept saying it. And then you want to turn around and blame Hillary Clinton afterwards? And play the victim. I mean, is any right winger ever going to take personal responsibility for anything?

No, never. I don't expect them to ever try to take personal responsibility while they simultaneously point to people who are living in poverty and argue that they should take responsibility for their situation. Anyway, that's beside the point. I wanna get back to how he plays the victim. Does that really surprise you though? Does it surprise you at all considering the experience that we've personally had with him?

Where he rushed our stage during our live show at the RNC in 2016. And then I called him names because that's what he deserved and I do not regret it. I will never take that back. And then what did he do after I called him a fat F? He cried and cried and cried. Made his rounds. We were on Radio Row where all the media was, made his rounds crying and whining about how I had fat shamed him.

I'm not kidding. No, I know. I know. Put out a video talking about how I fat shamed him. Are you gonna be okay, Alex Jones? Are you gonna be okay? Rogen called me out for fat shaming him, even though he will make excuses for people legitimately fat shaming on a regular basis.

Yeah. Did I hurt your buddy's feelings, Joe? Okay, so look, first of all, it looks like Alex needs a safe space. There's one thing he definitely needs a safe space from, other than Anna, which is this lawsuit. That's why he's like, psychosis, I wasn't mocking. No, I mean, what conspiracy theories? Me, Alex Jones, do conspiracy theories that then brutalize people. Lives?

No, me never. Oh, by the way, Alex, yes, that's mocking, okay? I'm mocking you. So I'm sure you're going to need a safe space from that. And of course when right wingers do likewise to me in terms of the shaming, I'm amused by it, I don't care at all, I know what my weight is, right? And they're like, I got you, right? No whatever cares, I don't see Joe Rogan going ballistic over that.

But the one time you touch their beloved right wing freaks, they're like, oh my God, A liberal offended me. A liberal offended me. By the way, of course, Alex Jones also lied about every single aspect of that time that he rushed onto our stage and trespassed and broke laws, et cetera. Completely disrespected the insane hard work that our producers put into that live show. And then we ended up being the ones who were the bad guys. And look, I want to be clear about something.

I don't go around judging people based on their weight or their looks. I'm not known to do that. I was very upset when he did that and brushed our stage. And I just said, what came to my mind at that moment? And I don't regret it, I never will, right? But for him to run around and pretend as if he's a victim is incredibly ridiculous, especially considering what he did in disrespecting our crew and the hard work we put into that show that day.

And what happened to us is what? Not anywhere near 1% of 1% of what happened to the Sandy Hook families. Yeah. They should take every dollar he has for what he has put them through. And he goes on air and lies on purpose all the time. That's not something that happened by accident at some point in his show. That is the intent of the show, that's the whole point of the show. Now look, that's my opinion, but they're gonna adjudicate it in court where you should

adjudicate things. And if he's, they think, if the jury thinks that he did it, well, sad day for him and a great day for America. When we come back from the break, we're going to switch gears and talk about a whistleblower within the government who is calling out the Trump administration over security clearances. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work. Listen ad-free. Access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at Apple. co slash t yt i'm your host shank huger and i'll see you soon