Joe Biden NBC Town Hall Transcript October 5

Speaker 1: (05:25)
From NBC news, the Joe Biden town hall live from the Perez Art Museum in Miami here’s Lester Holt.

Lester Holt: (05:35)
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to tonight’s town hall, where we are surrounded by dozens of undecided voters and where Democratic candidate Joe Biden will answer our questions and make his case tonight. Just under an hour ago, we saw the President return to the white house by helicopter after spending three days at nearby Walter Reed Military Hospital, where was treated for his coronavirus infection. Upon his return, the President removed his mask and pose for cameras of the white house balcony. We were in the midst of an extraordinary time with the election now just four weeks away and millions of Americans already voting. In just the past six days we’ve seen a contentious first Presidential debate followed by the stunning news that the President himself had fallen ill after testing positive for the virus. Tonight, we’ll talk to his opponent, Joe Biden about all this and much more in our exclusive town hall. We’ve got a lot to get to tonight so let’s start with a quick update from chief white house correspondent at Hallie Jackson. Hallie.

Hallie Jackson: (06:40)
Lester, good evening. The President’s returned to the white house was a moment that sent a message, but it’s not clear it’s the message the President had hoped to send. The news that he is now out of the hospital overshadowed by him landing on the South lawn of the white house, walking up to the blue room balcony and removing his mask, you can see it here, he then puts it in his pocket. It doesn’t look like anybody was around the President in his immediate vicinity, but already you’re hearing concerns about the signal this sends to Americans from the President of the United States, who is actively infected with the coronavirus after seven months in a pandemic, in which we were all told that wearing masks is a critical part of lowering risk. All of this Lester, following the President’s walk out of Walter Reed.

Hallie Jackson: (07:20)
He stepped out of that main entrance after about a 72 hour, stay at the medical center, came down the stairs and flashed a thumbs up. Through his hospitalization his white house has been focused on photo opportunities like these, trying to show Americans that the President is still in control, the President is still in charge. His physician, Dr. Sean Connolly says he is confident in the President’s progress, but acknowledges President Trump is not entirely out of the woods yet. And while Dr. Connolly says the President has no more fever, no more cough, we don’t have an answer on, for example, what the President’s lung scans show. There are some concerns that the President may have had pneumonia. [inaudible 00:07:58] President’s last negative test was either, that’s actually a really important point for figuring out who else may have been exposed and at risk. Lester.

All right, Hallie Jackson, thank you. And we are joined by Vice President Biden, thank you for being here.

Joe Biden: (08:10)
Thanks for having me Lester, I appreciate it.

We had a lot to talk about it and I really want these folks to drive the conversation as much as we can, but I’ve got to ask you about some of the things that Hallie just mentioned there. The President got discharged from the hospital today, flown aboard Marine One back to the white house. At one point, it climbs the stairs and he takes his mask off with other people who appear to be somewhat nearby. Did you see it? Did you hear about it? What’s your reaction, sir?

Joe Biden: (08:37)
I would hope that the President having gone through what he went through and I’m glad he seems to be coming along pretty well, would communicate the right lesson to the American people, masks matter. These masks, they matter. It matters and saves lives, it prevents the spread of the disease, social distancing. The only thing I heard was one of the Tweets saying don’t be so concerned about all this, essentially. There’s a lot to be concerned about, 210,000 people have died. You have about 1,000 people a day getting the coronavirus, I mean, it’s a great concern. I hope no one walks away with a message thinking that it is not a problem, it’s a serious problem. It’s an international pandemic and we have 4% of the population and 20% of the deaths.

I know you offered your good wishes to the President and the first lady did you pick up the phone? Did you call the President?

Joe Biden: (09:37)
No, I didn’t. I inquired whether I should do that. And the decision was that would probably be intrusive, but I’m truly happy if things are really moving along, like he said, and particularly the first lady as well, I’m very happy for that.

You have built your campaign around the coronavirus has been your number one issue. So when you hear that this president was infected with COVID-19, were you surprised?

Joe Biden: (10:08)
Quite frankly, I wasn’t surprised. Look, for the last three months, three times a week I’m on the telephone and on Zoom with some of the leading immunologist in the nation and they go through everything that’s happening. And so, the idea that COVID does not spread in proximity when you don’t have a mask on, when you’re not socially distancing, when there’s large groups of people when you’re inside particularly, but even when you’re outside, that’s not surprising. And again, we keep forgetting, or we’re not talking about it. 210,000 people have died already and the expectation is if nothing changes, we’re going to have another 200,000 dead by the end of the year. That’s 400,000 dead, God forbid if that happens, that’s more of them were killed in one year in America than four years in World War II.

I want to ask you about the information we’ve been given on the President’s medical condition from his doctors at Walter Reed. Also, some of the information about his condition from the white house. Do you think that the doctors have been forthcoming, that they’ve been transparent? Do you trust the assessments we’ve been hearing?

Joe Biden: (11:26)
I’m not going to second guess his doctors, he has some of the best healthcare in the world and I’m happy it was available to him. It should be available the President of United States in America, but the vast majority of Americans, the vast majority of people here in this audience, your camera man, if God forbid, something happened to them, they don’t have that access to that care, so it’s comparing apples and oranges a little bit.

You were on the debate stage with the President for 90 minutes, you were socially distant, but hearing that he was infected, did you have a moment of pause, of worry and concern for your own safety?

Joe Biden: (12:01)
No, because look, I’ve been fastidious about the social distancing. I’ve been fastidious about wearing a mask when I’m not socially distanced and even then remaining socially distanced. And so, we never got closer than you and I are right now, as well as when Melania came up on the stage, she smiled and waved, I waved to her, but it was the same distance. It was a little disconcerting to look out and see that his whole section, no one had masks on when my wife was sitting further down had a mask on, the people with us had masks on. I didn’t quite get that.

You were able to see that from where you were?

Joe Biden: (12:39)
Yes. When they came in, yes, because I was standing backstage and you could see people coming in and a lot of people didn’t have masks on.

If you become President, can you pledge transparency about your health if God forbid something like this happened, or some other health issue that you would be forthcoming to the American people?

Joe Biden: (12:58)
Yes, but look, I can understand there could be certain circumstances relating to national security where every detail would not be made available in the middle of a particular crisis. But the overall question of whether or not I’d be transparent about whether or not I had a serious problem or what treatment I got. Yes, but sometimes for a President that would come after the fact. So I’m not being critical of the fact that every single detail was not released. There is the HIPAA rules, they even apply to the President but they have consequences for a President beyond the rules relating to what is able to be done and not done without a patient’s permission, they have national security implications as well.

So that is to say some things you think would be okay to hold back.

Joe Biden: (13:44)
Well, only on the margins and only for the moment. In other words, other President’s have been through it. I was there when Ronald Reagan was shot, he was transparent, but they didn’t go into every single detail precisely. And that’s one of my buddies going up, but all kidding aside, so I think on balance, you have to tell the whole truth, what had happened, what was happening and what’s going on. But as moment to moment, I’m not sure that that is an absolute requirement, but you cannot mislead about certain things and I’m not saying they have. If in fact, the President had in fact contracted the virus and knew it before he went on into public encounters and was not wearing a mask that’s a different thing.

Yeah. One more question on this before we move on and hear from some of the voters. A recent poll said that 65% of Americans think the President bears some responsibility for contracting this virus, do you agree?

Joe Biden: (14:53)
Look, anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them. If these people took off their masks and they all have them on, I notice, and just all of a sudden gotten a gaggle and started talking to one another well, they’re taking responsibility that in fact they should be held responsible for. Because every major scientists and doctor and immunologist has said, “That’s a very dangerous thing to do.” The particles and droplets can stay in the air for a long time, longer than they thought, it can go beyond 10 feet. There’s all kinds of things they’ve learned and know and look, I view wearing this mask not so much protecting me, but as a patriotic responsibility. All the tough guys say, “Oh, I’m not wearing a mask, I’m not afraid.” Well, be afraid for your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your neighbor, your coworker, that’s who you’re protecting having this mask on and it should be viewed as a patriotic duty, to protect those around you.

You ready to hear from some voters now?

Joe Biden: (16:06)
Sure.

All right. Let’s bring out first of all, Vanessa Tamariz. Vanessa, nice to see you.

Joe Biden: (16:11)
Hi Vanessa.

Thank you for being with us. What’s your question for the Vice President?

Vanessa Tamariz: (16:15)
Hi, Vice President Biden. I’m sorry, I’m a little nervous here.

Joe Biden: (16:18)
I’m having trouble hearing her.

Thank you, sir. Vice President Biden, I work in Miami as a pediatric nurse and since the beginning of this pandemic, the government has been dysfunctional and disorganized in their response.

Joe Biden: (16:36)
I can’t hear her Lester.

You can’t hear her?

[inaudible 00:16:36] leads the state of Florida in the number of COVID cases and deaths and Florida just ranked number two in the COVID cases of children. Another larger wave is expected this fall, sir. Can you tell us what the Biden-Harris federal response plan is that would unite our country in fighting this pandemic and also any other future pandemics that may arise?

Where you able to hear okay?

Thank you sir.

… also any other future pandemics that may arise?

Are we able to hear okay?

Thank you, sir.

Joe Biden: (17:04)
I could hear part of it. I’m sorry. The television is in front of you and I didn’t catch the [crosstalk 00:17:09]

Yeah, and we’ve got the traffic. The meat of her question is, another larger wave expected this Fall, can you tell us what the Biden-Harris federal response plan that would unite our country in fighting this pandemic and any other future pandemics that will arise?

Joe Biden: (17:22)
Well, first of all, as Present of the United States, I would make a federal mandate on federal property, federal buildings, you must wear a mask, period, and you must be socially distanced. Number one. Number two, I would make sure we move very rapidly to get testing available to everyone, that’s quickly available so people can, in fact, be in a position where they can open their businesses, they can test their employees, test people coming in. I would make sure that we’re in a situation … I don’t know whether you have children, if you have children and they’re not in school. Well, you have to make a tough decision, many people. Excuse my back, I apologize. But do you, in fact, stay home and not be able to pay your rent because you have to take care of your child? What do you do? Those very difficult decisions.

Joe Biden: (18:08)
And so the way we know how to open schools safety, I laid out a plan all the way back in the beginning of the Summer, we should provide them for the ventilation they need, all the needs that they have for a mask and social distancing and testing. For example, the President had committed and FEMA, the emergency management organization, said, “We’re going to give masks to teachers as well as to the students.” And then the administration said, “Well, no. Guess what? That’s not a national emergency.” Well, what in God’s name is a national emergency if that’s not a national emergency? So it costs money to deal with all of these things, and we should, in fact, be using the money passed by the Congress to see [inaudible 00:18:53] people go and open their businesses safely, be able to keep their employees on the payroll, making sure they can have the sanitation capacity and ability to sanitize their stores as well as their schools. All of those things we will do, and more, I know I’m going on too long, but there’s a lot here that relates to what’s totally within our wheelhouse.

Well, can I follow up with that a little bit?

Joe Biden: (19:15)
Sure.

I heard you mention this idea of a national mandate.

Joe Biden: (19:19)
Yes.

You’ve mentioned that before for masks, but what power does a President have to make that happen?

Joe Biden: (19:24)
He doesn’t, beyond the federal property. I would go out and I would talk. I would call all the Governors to the White House. Some probably wouldn’t come. And I’d call the governors and I’d say to the mayors as well as the county executives, “Take responsibility. Take responsibility and lay out the guidelines.” Look, folks, one of the problems is this President said, “I take no responsibility. Literally, it’s not my responsibility.” Well, if it’s not his responsibility … He talked about this being like a time of war. We are under attack, as I said earlier, 200,000, plus have died, 50,000 a day are getting the virus, 1000 a day thereabouts are dying. This is a national emergency. And so the President should take responsibility and the federal government has an obligation to lay out basic guidelines. And the science matters. Listen to the scientists.

All right. Let’s get another question. Vanessa, thank you for your question. Our next one comes from Jonathan Pines. He’s the undecided voter from Hollywood, Florida, a registered Republican. I think he says he’s leaning toward you. What’s your question?

Joe Biden: (20:32)
I can’t see Jonathan, but I’ll back up here. Maybe I can see it from there.

He’s over right here.

Joe Biden: (20:35)
The camera blocks [crosstalk 00:20:35].

Jonathan: (20:35)
Thanks. Can you hear me?

Joe Biden: (20:36)
You’re a good looking guy, that’s why they want to get the camera shot of you.

Jonathan: (20:39)
Oh thank you. I agree. In light of recent events, it’s obvious that the pandemic can reach anyone. While the health and lives of the American people should come first, there’s been a combination of fear, shutdowns, isolationism, conflicting data, and school closings. And these have long lasting effects which have taken both a psychological and financial toll on nearly all of us. How do you plan to balance these factors with the expectation that COVID will be with us for the foreseeable future?

Joe Biden: (21:05)
Well, first of all, again, I don’t want to repeat myself too much. Science matters. There’s overwhelming scientific consensus. The President’s own head of CDC, Dr. Redfield, held up a mask and said, “If you put this mask on between now and January, you’ll save 100.” He said, “It’s more important than a virus, excuse me, than a vaccine. You can save more lives.” They’ve laid out, the University of Washington, one of the great universities that lays out all these projections, they said there could be 200,000 people dead between now and January. And they said, “If you wear a mask, we can save 100,000 lives.” Now, what is this macho thing I’m not going to wear a mask? What’s the deal here? Big deal. Does it hurt you? Be patriotic, for God’s sake. Take care of yourself but take care of your neighbors.

Joe Biden: (21:59)
And so the one thing we have to do is we have to unite the country. One of the reasons when I said I was running, I had three objectives. One, to restore the soul of this country so we start acting with a decency that reflects who we are. Secondly, rebuild the middle class. And thirdly, unite the country. Remember I was roundly criticized at my primaries. “You can’t unite the country.” We must. It’s the only way we can move forward, and the country is ready to be united I believe. They’re ready to be United. And we have to just change the way we talk to one another. Politics has become so mean and so ugly that we’ve got to get rid of that. We’ve got to just start talking to each other like we respect each other, which we have to. Thank you, Jon.

Our next question comes from Brian Smith. He’s a recently unemployed flight attendant who started an online support group for laid off airline workers.

Brian Smith: (22:53)
That’s correct. Hello. I want to thank you, sir, for having me here and taking my question. I am one of over 8,000 flight attendants that American Airlines had to furlough this past weekend. And my question to you is, if you’re elected President, what will you do to restore the travel and tourism industry to get it back on its feet and get it back up to pre-COVID levels so that we’re just not throwing more money at it?

Joe Biden: (23:22)
Well, look, my best friend … I’m a lucky man. I married into a family with five daughters. That means that one of them always loves you. Not the same one. Even when your wife’s mad, there’s always one with you. One of my sister-in-law is an attendant and she’s been for a long, long time facing the same kind of thing you’re facing. We could have, in fact, already solved that problem. The Congress passed the legislation to provide the money to keep the airlines up and running and to provide for the kinds of ways in which you can sanitize that aircraft, make sure everyone has on a mask. For example, recently, the Department of Transportation turned down a request from bus drivers and mass transit people and you guys, saying, “Everybody you get in the plane has to have a mask on. If they don’t have a mask on, then they can’t get in the plane.”

Joe Biden: (24:14)
What are we doing? Do you feel comfortable being an attendant and people getting on a crowded plane or not a crowded plane with no mask? You don’t. It’s just to protect you, protect one another. That’s within our power to do it. And look, one of the things we have to do is we have to provide funding for people who have been caught in the lurch. Look, the President, and he should, got great medical care, but that’s why I’m arguing from the very beginning of this, every one who contracts COVID should have their bills paid, paid for. People can’t afford this. And we’re in court right now, trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Already 10 million people have lost their employer based insurance, their COVID based insurance, 10 million. And they’re in court trying to do away with another 20 million who already get it through Obamacare. And, in addition to that, 100 million people with preexisting conditions.

Joe Biden: (25:13)
You know people who have had COVID. It would be wonderful if you didn’t, but if you do, you know you end up with heart problems and lung scarring. They become pre-existing conditions. So there’s a lot of things we can do. But guess what, folks? If we can spend money giving tax breaks for a racehorse, we can get tax breaks for the kinds of things we’re out there doing, three martini lunch. God, all mighty, why can’t we, in fact, give a tax break for people, free access to healthcare if you’re in the middle of a COVID crisis?

All right, thank you. We’re going to take a short break. We’ll be back with more questions from our voters to Vice President Joe Biden after this break. (music).

Speaker 2: (25:51)
Firefighters have had more favorable conditions, allowing them to push the flames away from homes, but the wind can change all of this on a dime.

Speaker 3: (26:34)
We can continue to expect protests as people continue to call for more answers to what happened and continue to call for that accountability.

Speaker 4: (26:42)
It’s starting to feel like a typical general election, both candidates actually out on the campaign trail making their pitch to voters.

Speaker 5: (26:50)
The moment to truly understand who we are and who we say we are is right here at our feet.

Chris Hayes: (26:54)
You got to get a four year degree, but a four year degree is super expensive. We have created a system where the ticket to the middle-class is a thing that middle-class families have to stress about and borrow for and patched together.

Speaker 6: (27:12)
Why Is This Happening with Chris Hayes. Subscribe now.

Speaker 7: (27:16)
For breaking news in our changing world, download the NBC News App.

Speaker 8: (27:21)
This morning across the country, what the new normal for schools will look like.

Speaker 9: (27:24)
Many teachers left making tough choices between the job they love and their family.

Speaker 10: (27:29)
What am I going to decide, take care of my children or have a job?

Speaker 9: (27:32)
That’s an impossible decision.

Speaker 11: (27:33)
You’re creating a little community school.

Speaker 12: (27:35)
This is a model we could just develop ourselves and develop our community.

Savannah Guthrie: (27:39)
Let’s turn it over to students. How did they really feel about returning to school?

Speaker 13: (27:43)
What I miss is my teachers.

They are resilient.

Today’s headlines can be hard to understand, and a lot of kids have questions. So we started a newscast for them. We hope your family will watch Nightly News Kids Edition.

Nicolle Wallace: (28:01)
The person leveling the accusations isn’t me. It’s John Bolton. I have heard from sources and you guys have reported that Dr. Fauci through Secretary Azar had been banging the pots and pans very early in the year. I worked on campaigns. If that was a campaign event, it was a crummy one.

Speaker 14: (28:24)
Deadline White house is now two hours. Weekdays from 4:00 to 6:00 on MSNBC.

Protests broke out. The coronavirus pandemic.

Speaker 15: (28:33)
The story.

Emergency approval to treat COVID-19 with plasma. Many questions remain about how well it works.

Speaker 15: (28:40)
From every angle.

Speaker 16: (28:41)
How much of the increased tension was due to the militias that came here?

Speaker 15: (28:44)
On the ground.

Speaker 17: (28:46)
Deadly Western wildfires in California. Entire communities were also wiped off the map.

Speaker 15: (28:52)
And in depth.

Speaker 18: (28:53)
One of the big concerns is indoor air quality. What are you doing to address that?

Speaker 15: (28:57)
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Back at our Town Hall Meeting in Miami with Democratic Presidential Candidate, Joe Biden and our questions from voters. Our next question comes from Ingrid Gilliam-Alexander, who is undecided but leaning toward Biden. What’s your question?

Ingrid Gilliam-Alexander: (29:20)
Good evening, Mr. Biden.

Joe Biden: (29:22)
I can hear you.

Ingrid Gilliam-Alexander: (29:24)
Watching the debate, I noticed that President Trump was bullying you and I’m worried that it knocked you off your game. How do I know that you’re able to forcefully lead this country moving forward when being faced with unforeseen challenges and other bullies?

Joe Biden: (29:41)
Well, I’m used to bullies. I used to stutter when I was a kid. I learned how to fight. I got a nickname. They called me Shoe Leather. I was little, but they could beat me up and I hurt them in the process. Look, I was surprised to learn that Chris Wallace said there were 158 interruptions in that debate we had. And it was just very difficult to … I didn’t want to further demean the process of the debate by getting in a shouting match with him. On the one hand, I tried very hard, if you noticed, to look in the camera and ask the questions directly. But they kept getting bang. I hope this next meeting we’re going to have, it’s called a debate, but a town meeting we’re going to have supposedly coming up, that I hope we at least have an opportunity to hear the question and answer the question directly before there’s an interruption. But as I said to the President, “Not here, not tonight, not me. I’m not putting up with it.”

Let me ask you this, Vice President Biden. It was an ugly debate and it hits some lows. You called him a clown, a fool. You told him to shut up. I think most people believe that the President was interrupting you, but it seemed to go against some of the language you’ve said about not being divisive. Do you regret any part, on your part?

Joe Biden: (31:05)
It did, and I was trying to figure out how I could possibly have him respect the debate, respect the evening, respect the moderator, and get us an opportunity to speak. The one thing that became absolutely clear, he didn’t want to answer any questions. He did not want to talk about substance. If you noticed, not one single time that I can recall that he offered a substantive answer or criticism related to a policy matter. It was all invective. It was all personal. It was all things that have nothing to do with whether they’re going to change these people’s lives for the better. And I did get very frustrated. I did get frustrated, and I should have said, “This is a clownish undertaking,” instead of calling him a clown. But the fact is it was, I’ll be very honest with you, I think it was embarrassing for the nation to see the Present of the United States hectoring like he did and everything was about a personal attack.

But to the point of the question, though, you’re going to be meeting with world leaders who are going to get under your skin.

Joe Biden: (32:12)
I’ve dealt with more world leaders than he has and went face to face over eight years. And they’ve got under my skin and we’ve had very quiet conversations. I told President Putin exactly what I think of him. He knows it. We looked eye to eye, and we know what’s going on. I’ve made the same assessment to Milosevic. I’ve had the same kinds of conversations across the board. You can look back on all those international meetings I have. You can’t think of a time when I’ve not handled it properly.

All right.

Joe Biden: (32:39)
But I don’t have somebody screaming at me at the next podium when I’m meeting with a world leader.

All right, let’s get our next question from Michelle Cruz, is from Coral Gables. Used to be a registered Republican, but voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Her husband is in the crowd, I believe. What’s your question?

Michelle Cruz Marrero: (32:57)
Good evening, Mr. Vice President. As a mother of a police officer and the wife of a retired police officer who served 28 years, the term “defending the police” is up concern and troubling. I understand that police departments do need reform. We need to serve and protect safely and properly. With that being said, I would like to know what you and your administration’s policies in reforming the police, how those will come about, how they will be best handled to ensure police officers’ safety and the public and citizens’ safety as well?

Joe Biden: (33:38)
I grew up in a neighborhood where the guys I grew up with in my working class neighborhood either became cops, firefighters, or priests. I wasn’t qualified to be any one of them. I have had overwhelming support from police my whole career up until this year as your husband will tell. The vast, vast, vast majority of police are honorable, decent men and women who risk their lives every single day when they put on that …

Joe Biden: (34:03)
… women who risk their lives every single day when they put on that badge and walk out that door. They have a right to come home safely. But there’s bad apples in every profession. There are lousy commentators. There are lousy presidents. There’s lousy senators, docs. And they should be in fact … I can think of, I don’t know, any police department around that isn’t happy to get rid of a lousy cop, because it just reflects on them. And by the way, the same with the protestors. It’s a right to protest peacefully. But once you pick up a bat and start smashing windows, once in fact you light something on fire, once you engage in violence, you should be arrested and held accountable. And I’ve never had a position different than that from the very beginning.

Joe Biden: (34:40)
So what I’m going to do, I’m going to do what I’ve done in the past. I’m going to bring all these interests together, peaceful protesters, police chiefs, police officers, and police unions, as well as the civil rights groups in the White House and sit down and decide what are the things that need to be done to improve and help police officers. I’m the only one who’s talked about increasing police budgets. When your husband goes on a call that in fact is a 911 call, it’s better if he or she has with them a psychologist or psychiatrist with them. Someone who knows how to deal with someone who is not all there. And so there’s a lot of things we should be doing.

Joe Biden: (35:19)
In addition to that, I also am proposing that we spend significant more money on community policing. The reason it worked … My son used to be an attorney general in the state of Delaware. The idea is you get the police, you get the law enforcement together with the community, so they know one another. Because that kid walking across the street with a hoodie on may be the next poet laureate. It doesn’t mean that child is going to be in trouble. And so we got to make sure there’s more communication. That’s what I’m going to do as president, bring together a national commission sitting in the White House with me, with me and working this out.

All right. Our next question is from Nicole Maddox. She is an undecided voter. Nicole, what’s your question?

Nicole Maddox: (36:04)
Hello, Vice President Biden. So as an African-American female, I have never lived through what I’m living through right now. And at times, I don’t feel safe in this country. And so my question to you is what would you do to stop extremists and white supremacist groups.

Joe Biden: (36:21)
Stop what? I’m sorry.

Nicole Maddox: (36:22)
White supremacist groups. And what would be your approach to police reform to ensure that people who look like me and my family feel safe in this country?

Joe Biden: (36:33)
Number one, the president’s own FBI director has said the greatest domestic threat to terrorism are white supremacists. White supremacists. And when you have a president saying to one particular group of white supremacists that in fact stand down but stand by, that is like a clarying call to get ready. Get ready. It’s totally, totally inappropriate. These guys are driving me crazy. I love them, but I can’t see them when they walk by. But all kidding aside, here’s the deal, we got to make sure that when we interview police for the job, that there’s a more thorough interview process. There’s more background checking being done and attitudes. It matters.

Joe Biden: (37:20)
Cops are kind of like school teachers. Everything lands on their desk, no matter what it is, whether it’s a child that’s in trouble on the street or whether it’s somebody who has a mental problem or someone who’s robbing a bank. And you can’t expect them to have all this broad knowledge to how to handle everything. They need more help. They need more money as a matter of fact.

Joe Biden: (37:43)
But in the meantime, in the meantime, what we have to do is make sure there is quote … it sounds … all the tough guys are going to say it’s a silly word, sensitivity training. Understanding other cultures, know what people are like, what they’re thinking about, how they act, what is consistent with the culture that they’re from. It’s important we know that. We’re a nation of immigrants. We’re a nation that’s so diverse. And it’s very difficult to make sure police officers are trained enough to be able to know what to expect in a community.

Joe Biden: (38:16)
But the biggest thing we have to do is make sure that they learn to deal with diminishing the kind of force that they use. What is the minimum force required in order to be able to deal with whatever the situation is? It’s about diminishing the prospect of use of excessive force. It’s about eliminating some things totally, like choke holds. It’s about making sure that no knock warrants are changed, so people know what’s going on. There’s a whole range of things we can do. The commission President Obama and I set up early on was in the process of doing that until this president got elected. What happened was, if you notice, there has been sort of a dog whistle out there that is that everything’s about division and hate.

Joe Biden: (39:03)
The reason I decided to run for office … I hadn’t planned on running again. I gave you my word. After my son passed, I wasn’t going to run again. But when I saw those people coming out of the woods, literally the fields, carrying torches in Charlottesville, screeching that … If you close your eyes, remember what you saw, their veins bulgy, preaching anti-Semitic hate, the same exact language Jews in Germany in the thirties accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan. And when a young woman was innocently killed, what was the question asked to the president? What do you think? He said they’re very fine people on both sides. No president has ever said anything remotely like that.

Mr. Vice-

Joe Biden: (39:43)
So there’s this constant dog whistle, and it bothers me a lot.

Mr. Vice President, though, the critics and Donald Trump himself will say that you had almost 50 years working in government and legislation and as a vice president, and you weren’t able to accomplish those things then.

Joe Biden: (40:00)
Yes, and I wasn’t president.

He points out in a criminal justice reform bill. You and Barack Obama served at a time when you had both houses of Congress and still couldn’t get some of these things done.

Joe Biden: (40:11)
Yeah, we did. We let 18,000 people got clemency. He got two or three where he’s talking about. The violent crime rate was down 15% in our administration. 15% down. You didn’t see these white supremacists rising up. Look, one thing I learned a long time, I got involved because of the civil rights movement when I was a kid. My state is the eighth largest black population. No great shakes, I’m not making myself out to be a great civil rights leader. But that’s how I got involved with politics. And one of the interesting things was that I came back to Wilmington after my city was burned. 20% of it was burned to the ground when Dr. King was assassinated. And I had a job with a very prestigious law firm. But we were only sitting in America since the civil war occupied by the national guard withdrawn bayonets for 10 months.

Joe Biden: (41:04)
And after I got admitted to the bar, I decided I couldn’t do this. I quit and became a public defendant. And I remember going down to … if you ride the Northeast Carter, you go from Washington to New York. You go by the Wilmington station. I used to have to interview my clients down there before their arraignment. And what would happen is that I found that I had not thought that black and whites would never get together again in Delaware.

Joe Biden: (41:27)
And here I was almost 40 years later to the month in January of 2009, waiting for a train to come from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying a black man about to pick me up to take me 147 miles to Washington, DC to be sworn in as president vice-president. Honest to God’s truth, I called my three kids up. One’s a social worker. One was run running the World Food Program USA, the largest in the world. And my other son was the attorney general. And I was standing on a platform. I looked over the east side, which had just been leveled and what they call the third street bridge was burned. And I said, “Look, guys,” I said, “don’t tell me things can’t change. Look what’s happened. When I stood here 40 years ago to the month, that was burned to the ground. Now look at it. Look at it.”

Joe Biden: (42:18)
I talked about there’s hope, but I made a big mistake. I didn’t realize that you can’t defeat hate. Hate only hides. It hides under the rocks. And when you give it oxygen, when you breathe into it, you bring out the worst of people and you legitimize them. That’s what’s happened. We’ve legitimized these people who engaged in hate based on race and color and religion. And it’s wrong. And the way we have to deal with it is we have to make sure that we equip every agency, federal, state, and local agency with the tools that are going to be bringing people together.

Vice President Biden, on that note, we’re going to have to take a short break. We’ve got more questions from our voters. And we’ll do that from Miami in just a moment.

Speaker 19: (43:35)
Firefighters have had more favorable conditions, allowing them to push the flames away from homes. But the wind can change all of this on a dime.

Speaker 3: (43:42)

Speaker 4: (43:50)
Starting to feel like a typical general election. Both candidates actually out on the campaign trail, making a pitch to voters.

Speaker 3: (43:58)
The moment to truly understands who we are and who we say we are is right here at our feet.

You got to get a four-year degree, but a four year degree is super expensive. We have created a system where the ticket to the middle-class is a thing that middle-class families have to stress about and borrow for and patch together.

Speaker 20: (44:20)

Speaker 21: (44:24)
For breaking news in our changing world, downloading the NBC News app.

Hota Kotb: (44:29)
This morning across the country what the new normal for schools will look like.

Speaker 9: (44:32)

Speaker 22: (44:37)
What am I going to decide? Take care of my children or have a job?

Speaker 9: (44:40)
That’s an impossible decision.

Speaker 23: (44:41)

Speaker 24: (44:44)
This is a moment we just develop ourselves and develop our community.

Let’s turn it over to students. How do they really feel about returning to school?

Speaker 25: (44:52)

They are resilient.

Today’s headlines can be hard to understand. A lot of kids have questions. So we started a newscast for them. We know your family were watching Nightly News Kids Edition.

The person leveling the accusations isn’t me. It’s John Bolton. I have heard from sources, and you guys have reported that Dr. Fauci through Secretary Azar had been banging the pots and pans very early in the year.

I worked on campaigns. If that was a campaign event, it was a crummy one.

Speaker 14: (45:33)
Deadline White House is now two hours weekdays from 4:00 to 6:00 on MSNBC.

Protests broke out. The coronavirus pandemic.

Speaker 14: (45:42)
The story.


Speaker 14: (45:48)
From every angle.

Speaker 26: (45:49)

Speaker 14: (45:53)
On the ground.

Deadly Western wildfires. California.

Speaker 27: (45:56)
Entire communities were also wiped off the map.

Speaker 14: (46:00)
And in depth.

Speaker 28: (46:01)

Speaker 14: (46:05)

You got to get a four year degree, but a four year degree is super expensive. We have created a system where the ticket to the middle-class is a thing that middle-class families have to stress about and borrow for and patched together.

Speaker 20: (46:25)

Speaker 3: (46:36)
Welcome back. Welcome back, Miami and the town hall meeting with former vice president, Joe Biden, taking questions about undecided voters. Our next question comes from Danny Lavandera. Danny, what’s your question?

Danny Lavendera: (46:47)
Good evening, Mr. Vice President. Teachers need to be in the classroom, but I believe that this needs to be done in a safe environment for all. What are your plans to ensure that schools are safe for teachers as well as students in the middle of this pandemic?

Joe Biden: (47:02)
Number one, depending on the circumstance in terms of the transmission rate in your community that would have a lot to do whether the school should open at all, whether the chance should be taken. That’s what all of senior doctors and immunologists say. So if you have a high rate of the spread of the disease in your community, it’s better not to open that school. But if you’re at a place where it’s less than under one, then in fact it’s possible to open. But you have to open safely.

Joe Biden: (47:31)
And it requires four things. It requires making sure that you as a teacher, my wife is a teacher, has the PPE to be able to open safely, so your health is in good shape, because children can communicate the disease as well as contract it. Number one. Number two, you have to be in a position where the children are able to be in smaller modules. That requires more teachers or spreading out students in a way that you don’t have large groups … If you have a class of 25, you ended up having two classes of 12, for example. So you have smaller groups.

Joe Biden: (48:05)
Number three, that the sanitation capacity in this school is upgraded, so you’re able to keep everything from the laboratories to the hallways, to the surfaces clean, and they’re able to be done. Fourthly to make sure that you’re in a situation where there is a circumstance that you know that there is not overcrowding in the school so that you have enough teachers, as I said, to make sure that you can spread them out, spread out the children.

Joe Biden: (48:33)
When that is done, then you can more safely open up. And I’d be happy to send you a copy of the actual plan. I wrote back in July based on the recommendations of the leading scientists in the country as to how to safely open. Safely open, because people are worried about the child going home with the disease, spreading it to their grandpop or grandmom or the older member of the family and them getting very sick.

Joe Biden: (49:02)
And right now we haven’t even done … In the vaccines, there’s not even been any experimentation done on testing children for a vaccine yet. That’s a different issue. But in the meantime, you can open safely, limit class size, make sure the hallways are open in ways that they’re not crowded, everybody wearing a mask, social distancing, ventilation taken care of in the schools so that you’re able to make sure that it is not lingering in the air. There are the kinds of things … And it’s estimated by the superintendents nationwide to open every school in America safely it’d be about $200 billion.

All right, Danny, thank you for your question. Our next one comes from Cassidy Brown in Orlando. Voted for the first time in 2016. Nice to have a here.

Thank you.

Joe Biden: (49:44)
Hey, Cassidy.

Hello, Mr. Biden. My youngest sister is in high school right now. And I knew whenever I was graduating high school and entering college that I wanted to obtain my degree and start a career before starting a family. Having access to birth control and safe reproductive health care was imperative in making that true for me. So considering the new Supreme court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, what are your particular plans to protect women’s reproductive rights in the US?

Joe Biden: (50:19)
Number one, we don’t know exactly what she will do. Although, the expectation is that she may very well overrule Row. But the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Row the law of the land. That’s what I would do.

All right. We will take a short break. And we’ve got more questions for you, Mr. Vice President, when we continue our town hall meeting.

Speaker 19: (51:22)
Firefighters have had more favorable conditions allowing them to push the flames away from homes, but the wind can change all of this on a dime.

Ismael Illiano: (51:30)

It’s starting to feel like a typical general election. Both candidates actually out on the campaign trail making their pitch to voters.

Speaker 5: (51:46)
The moment to truly understand who we are and who we say we are is right here at our feet.

You’ve got to get a four year degree, but a four year degree is super expensive. We have created a system where the ticket to the middle-class is a thing that middle-class families have to stress about and borrow for and patch together.

Speaker 29: (52:08)
Why Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes. Subscribe now.

Speaker 14: (52:12)
For breaking news in our changing world, download the NBC News app.

Speaker 30: (52:17)
This morning across the country, what the new normal for schools will look like.

Speaker 9: (52:20)

Speaker 31: (52:25)
What am I going to decide? Take care of my children or have a job? That’s an impossible decision.

Speaker 32: (52:29)

Speaker 38: (52:31)
This is a moment that we can develop ourselves and develop our community.

Let’s turn it over to students. How do they really feel about returning to school?

Speaker 33: (52:40)

They are resilient.

Today’s headlines can to be hard to understand, and a lot of kids have questions so we started a newscast for them. We hope your family will watch Nightly News Kids Edition.

The person leveling the accusations isn’t me, it’s John Bolton. I have heard from sources and you guys have reported that Dr. Fauci, through secretary Azar, had been banging the pots and pans very early in the year. I worked on campaigns. If that was a campaign event, it was a crummy one.

Speaker 14: (53:20)
Deadline White House is now two hours, weekdays from 4:00 to 6:00 on MSNBC.

Protests broke out-

Speaker 35: (53:28)
The coronavirus pandemic.

Speaker 14: (53:29)
The story.


Speaker 14: (53:36)
From every angle.

Speaker 34: (53:37)

Speaker 14: (53:41)
On the ground.

Deadly western wildfires in California.

Speaker 36: (53:44)
Entire communities were also wiped off the map.

Speaker 14: (53:48)
And in depth.

Speaker 37: (53:49)

Speaker 14: (53:53)

And we are back at our town hall in Miami with Joe Biden, and we’ve got more questions from our voters. Let’s go to Ismael Illiano who voted for Hillary Clinton four years ago but has voted Republican in the past. What’s your question for Mr. Biden?

Ismael Illiano: (54:16)
Hi, Mr. Vice President. You a lot about your unity and division, but it seems now more than ever there’s a divisiveness in the country that goes way beyond disagreeing with policy or whether you’ve made the right decision or not. It’s either, “You’re with me or you’re against me.” The role of president, in my opinion, should be to unify as much as possible, so what three actions will you take as president to get us back to being one country versus several little fiefdoms that are trying to outyell at each other about who’s wrong and right?

Joe Biden: (54:49)
Well, first of all there’s no reason why you should know, but I think I’m not Lester to confirm, but my entire career I’ve been able to bring Democrats and Republicans together. And people say, “Well, that was the old days, Joe. Things have changed.” Well, the only thing that’s changed is the way in which the politics that has been moved by some in the party have just gotten really ugly. I think what happens is, I think when people see if in fact I’m fortunate enough to win, I think the absence of the President’s willingness to go after and hold anyone accountable and disagrees with them like he did to his former attorney general down in Alabama when I campaigned against him, when he left the office, people are going to be less unwilling to compromise, number one. Number two, I think if you take a look at, what I learned a long time ago is that it’s always appropriate to question another man or woman’s judgment. It’s never appropriate to question their motive.

Joe Biden: (55:52)
I learned that lesson very early on. When I got elected the Senate I didn’t want to go because my wife and daughter were killed between the time I got elected and the time that I was sworn in. and a Senator named Mansfield was a majority leader, took me under his wing and insisted meeting with me every Tuesday at 2:00. I thought you got assignments from majority leaders. No Senator gets an assignment. Took him about five weeks, Lester, to realize just taking my pulse, to see how emotionally I was doing, because I agreed I’d come and stay for six months until they got organized.

Joe Biden: (56:27)
And what happened was I remember one day I walked into the Senate. If you look at C-SPAN, you know that big gold arch door you walk through to go down to the well? I walked in for my meeting and as I walked down to the floor of the Senate to find out when the last vote was going to be before I walked out the other side, because I went home every night to see my kids, there was a senator who was excoriating two people who became very close friends of mine, Bob Dole, and Teddy Kennedy.

Joe Biden: (56:54)
They had introduced the precursor for the Americans With Disabilities Act, and I thought it was heartless. So anyway, I was more afraid of missing my meeting with the leaders so I went in and sat down in front of him. This was the last week in May, and I’d already figured out why I was seeing him. And he looked at me, said, “What’s the matter, Joe? And I went on and I said this particular Senator had no social redeeming value. How could he be so heartless? How could he not care about people? How could he say a curb cut was inappropriate to have? The buses had to have lifts, et cetera. He looked at me and said, “Joe, what would you say if I told you that same Senator and his wife two years ago were reading the paper in their hometown and there’s a picture of a young in braces from under his arms down to his ankles and two steel crutches? 14 years old saying, “All I want for Christmas is someone to love me and take me home.” So what would you say if I told you they adopted that young man?

But I don’t think you got to the heart of Ismael’s question, which is something tangible, something you can do as a new president.

Joe Biden: (57:59)
I learned from him. He said, “It’s always appropriate to question another man’s judgment, but not their motive.” Once you question a senator’s motive you can never get anything done. I said, “You’re in the pocket of the cement industry. Let’s see if we can get a transportation bill passed.” It doesn’t work, and that’s why I put… Look, when President Trump had already been elected, I was Vice President. He had already been elected and I put together a group that came up with almost $9 billion to deal with cancer research. $ 9 billion. They said no would vote for it. We had a total of only, I think, 41 senators and something like 118 house members. 398 house members voted for it and 96 senators voted for it. My point is, you stop questioning motive. You go out and you debate the issues, because we’ve all gotten down to the point where everything is about attacking the integrity of the other person.

Joe Biden: (58:55)
And the last thing I would do is make sure that we in fact had… I reached out constantly, which I did as Vice President and as a chairman of a committees, Foreign Relations and the Judiciary Committee, reached out and brought the opposition in. Last point, for example, they said, “Joe, what are you going to do if you get to pick the next Supreme Court Justice?” It says advise and consent. You need the Senate to give advice and consent. Every president’s pulled us together has said, “This is who I’m thinking of,” and gone to Republican senators and Democratic senators and said, “What do you think?” You put together amendment, you put together coalitions. That’s how you deal in a democracy.

All right, Peter Gonzalez has next question.

Peter Gonzalez: (59:41)
Welcome to Miami, Mr. Vice President. In fact, I was born in Hartford, Connecticut, I was raised in Hialeah, Florida, and I’ve been living in Coral Gables for the last 20 plus years. Cuban American and Venezuelan voters here in South Florida are being targeted with messages by the Trump campaign claiming that a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for the radical left and socialism and even communism. What can you tell people in my family, my friends who are understandably concerned with that issue, that would make them feel comfortable voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris?

Lester Holt: (01:00:14)
Let me just point out, we have about three or four minutes left.

Joe Biden: (01:00:16)
I look like a socialist? Look, I’m the guy that ran against the socialist. Remember, I got in trouble through the whole campaign? 20 some candidates, Joe Biden was too centrist, too moderate, too straightforward? That was Joe Biden. I have taken on the very people that in fact we’re worried about. I’ve taken on the Castro’s of the world, I’ve taken on the Putin’s of the world. I’ve taken on all these dictators. I haven’t cozied up to them. I’m the guy that’s been straight forward with them. I’m the guy that let them know it stops here. It stops with me. It stops with me as president. I am no more socialist our communists than Donald Trump is… Well, I won’t say it. Anyway. So they need not worry. Just look at the record. There’s not one single syllable that I’ve ever said that could lead you to believe that I was a socialist or communist.

All right. We’ve got time for I think for one more question. Mateo Gomez joins us now. First time voter. Came to the US from Columbia at age two. Welcome.

Joe Biden: (01:01:12)
Spent a lot of time in Columbia.

Mateo Gomez: (01:01:14)
Thank you, Lester, for the introduction. Vice President Biden, thank you so much for coming to Miami and speaking to us today. If you win in November there will be a 56 year age gap between you and myself. My generation, generation Z, is growing up with school shootings, police brutality, and protests, and the inability to earn a livable wage even when holding advanced degrees like myself. How can someone like yourself, an older white male, represent my generation over the next four years? And please Vice President Biden, can you guarantee me that the American dream still exists?

Got about 90 seconds.

Joe Biden: (01:01:53)
I’ll get the end. I guarantee you it still exists, number one. Look, with age comes wisdom, hopefully. I’ve been there. I’ve watched. I’m the guy that’s talked about the 9/11 generation getting so badly damaged. I’m the only one you’ve heard speak in the last five years about how your generation. My granddaughter just graduated with honors from Columbia Law School, in fact is having trouble. The fact that all my… I have two granddaughters that are in school in college, and two more children who are in high school. Your generation has been really put behind the eight ball. You get all these degrees, you end up with all this debt, and you’re in a position where you can’t get a job because no one’s hiring or they’re hiring and they’re hiring at very low wages. And so what we have to do is we have to make sure that you get the opportunity.

Joe Biden: (01:02:41)
That’s why I’m going to eliminate a lot of your student debt if you come from a family less $1125,000 and you went to a public university. I’m going to make sure that everybody in this generation gets $10,000 knocked off of their student debt as we try to get out of this God awful pandemic. Going to make sure that the opportunities you have are consistent with… For example, if you’re a first home home buyer, you haven’t even had the opportunity to gain enough income to be able to have a down payment. The first term home buyers are going to get a $15,000 credit to be able to buy their first home, because that’s how people accumulate wealth. That’s how they get started. That’s how they move. We’re going to make sure we recognize you, advance you, and make sure that you…

Joe Biden: (01:03:27)
Look, my children, my grandchildren, you are the future. You are the future. I owe, as I said… For example, I made the comment that I view myself as a transitional president, as I want to transition to your generation. You’re the best educated, you’re the most open, you’re the least prejudice generation in American history. The future is yours, and I’m counting on you.

Mr. Vice president, thank you. That is going to conclude tonight our town hall. Our thanks to former Vice President Joe Biden as well as to our participants here in Miami and all of you at home, we should note that well before the president’s stillness we extended an invitation to him to participate in a town hall with us as well. That invitation still stands. There’s a busy road ahead in the run up to election day, including the vice presidential debate just 48 hours from now with Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. I’m Lester Holt in Miami. Goodnight, everyone.

Joe Biden NBC Town Hall Transcript October 5

Other Related Transcripts

Stay updated.