While there are only about 10 months left before the U.S. presidential election, scandals, be they sexual or political, haunt the presidential candidates and could take one of them out of the running early, in particular former Vice President Joe Biden, incumbent President Donald Trump, or even Andrew Yang, who is seeking support from the Democratic Party to be its presidential candidate.
Biden, the front-runner against the hard-to-beat President Trump in the upcoming presidential election, is haunted by numerous accusations of sexual harassment, some of which date back to political rallies as early as 2009 when he was vice president under former President Barack Obama, accusations which have snowballed.
Sex Scandals Haunting Biden, the Leading Candidate in the Presidential Election
In April 2019, Amy Lappos accused then-Vice President Biden of touching her inappropriately during a political fundraising campaign in 2009 while she was working as an aide to Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes.
The New York Times reported that Lappos met Biden, one of the leading candidates in the 2020 presidential election, during a political rally in Greenwich, Connecticut. He tried to touch her inappropriately and rubbed his nose against hers.
“It wasn’t sexual exactly, but I didn’t feel comfortable with his actions. He did grab me by the head. He put his hand around my neck. I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth. I was surprised that he rubbed noses with me. I felt extremely uncomfortable with his actions,” Lappos said.
Lappos, 43, continued, “I did not feel comfortable with Biden’s continued attempts to get closer to me during the event, such as when he came up behind me in the kitchen and did that strange move.” Lappos never filed a complaint because Biden was the U.S. vice president and therefore no one would listen, as she put it.
But Biden, the leading presidential candidate, denied the allegations in a statement, saying, “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.”
However, several months before the announcement of the Lappos incident about harassment, Lucy Flores, a Nevada legislator, raised a complaint about Biden, describing him hugging women during his previous campaign and during his time in the White House under the Obama administration.
In her March 2019 complaint, Flores accused Biden of hugging her against her will in 2014. But the office of the leading candidate in the U.S. presidential election denied these allegations, explaining that throughout his long career, Biden has “offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort.”
The Invasion of Iraq Is a Black Mark on Biden’s Record in the 2020 Presidential Election
Sex scandals are not the only thing haunting Biden. His vote to invade Iraq has become a black mark on his record for American voters who do not want to lose their sons in a new war in the Middle East. During a debate in Iowa last Thursday, voters blamed Biden for approving the invasion.
But Biden tried to justify his position on July 15, 2019, explaining that his approval of the Iraq invasion was based only on his trust in then-president George Bush, explaining that he believed Bush sincerely wanted to invade Iraq because there were weapons of mass destruction, according to statements by international inspectors.
Biden’s alibi seems unacceptable, especially given that in 2002, he was more than 60 years old, had served five terms in Congress, and was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As he said a year before the invasion of Iraq: “If Saddam Hussein is still there five years from now, we are in big trouble.”
Sex Scandals Facing Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election
Like Biden, Trump is also haunted by several scandals, both sexual and political, that could shake his position in the November presidential election. The most prominent scandal that has haunted Trump, Biden’s rival, since he ran for his first term is his relationship with the adult film star, Stormy Daniels.
In February 2018, the adult film star Daniels, thought to have been associated with Trump since 2006, threatened to reveal information to the media, arguing that the president’s lawyer had freed her from a confidentiality agreement by publicly announcing that he had paid her a sum of money.
The president’s personal lawyer revealed that he paid Daniels $130,000 from his own money a short time before the 2016 presidential election. Thus, the actress’ manager said that “the non-disclosure agreement was already broken.”
In an interview, Trump’s aide and personal adviser Michael Cohen refused to disclose the reasons why he paid this sum to Daniels. At that point, the White House avoided answering questions about the validity of the claims regarding a sexual relationship, saying that the issue was dealt with during the campaign.
Trump Is Affected by the Impeachment Proceedings During the Presidential Campaign
The political scandal still shaking global politics is the attempt to remove Trump, the incumbent seeking a second presidential term. He is facing a House of Representatives that is controlled by Democrats who accuse Trump of abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political opponent Biden, and obstruction of Congress.
In order to initiate impeachment proceedings, the House of Representatives, led by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which is controlled by Trump’s Republicans. However, there is little expectation that the president and front-runner in the presidential election will be convicted.
But, according to the BBC, the Democrats want the media to broadcast the trial because it will present a stumbling block for Trump’s campaign in the bid for reelection.
A Candidate Uses His Wife’s Sexual Assault To Win Voter Sympathy
In a rather unusual move, just hours before last Thursday’s Democratic candidates’ debate in Iowa, presidential candidate Andrew Yang tried to gain voters’ approval in the primaries by using his wife’s sexual assault by her gynecologist in 2012.
Evelyn Yang revealed details of the sexual assault she suffered during a visit to her gynecologist during her seventh month of pregnancy in 2012, saying, “At the last minute, he kind of made up an excuse. He said something about, ‘I think you might need a C-section,’ and he proceeded to grab me over to him and undress me and examine me internally, ungloved.”
Evelyn, 31, added in her remarks to CNN, “In the beginning, I was asking myself what is happening here? No one else was in the room. I knew it was wrong. I knew I was being assaulted … I imagined myself as someone being, you know, like I would throw a chair at him and run out yelling bloody murder but that isn’t what happened. I was angry, I knew it was happening. I just kind of froze like a deer in headlights, just frozen.”
Evelyn did not tell her husband or anyone else what had happened. As Yang said in his statement only hours before the debate, “When victims of abuse come forward, they deserve our belief, support, and protection,” adding “I hope that Evelyn’s story gives strength to those who have suffered and sends a clear message that our institutions must do more to protect and respond to women.”
Nearly 17 Democratic candidates are vying to be on the party’s ticket to run in the 2020 presidential election. The most prominent candidates include Biden, the billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.
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