Kayleigh McEnany called Biden ‘likable man of the people’ compared to ‘tycoon’ Trump

She described Biden as someone who’s ‘funny and likable and can resonate with the middle class.’

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is walking back comments she made during the 2016 election season, when she heaped praise on Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

In an August 2015 interview with New York’s AM970 rediscovered by CNN, McEnany said, “I think the Republicans run into a problem if it is Joe Biden and if it is maybe a Trump on the other side.”

“Because Joe Biden, one of the things he is remarkable at is really kind of being a man of the people and resonating with middle-class voters,” she continued, “feeling like — coming off as human. His gaffes — as much as we make fun of them — to a certain extent, they make him look human. So not, since he’s likable.”

Her comments came as Biden was weighing a run for the 2016 presidential election. Ultimately, he decided not to run, citing the then-recent death of his son, Beau.

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McEnany also described Donald Trump as a “tycoon.”

In a video interview on Fox Business, also in 2015, McEnany compared Biden to Hillary Clinton, saying, “When you have Joe Biden here, who’s funny and likable and can resonate with the middle class, he really can speak to the average, everyday American, versus Hillary Clinton who’s cold and somber.”

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As expected, the press secretary is walking back her previous praise of the former vice president. She released a statement to CNN in which she said that since her 2015 comments, she has learned of Biden’s “profound personal corruption,” contending that the lifelong Democrat has become “an empty vessel for the liberal elites and far-left.”

Before joining the Trump administration, McEnany was a Fox contributor who expressed explicitly disdain for Trump as a candidate.

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In June of 2015, she decried Trump’s statements about Mexican immigrants being “rapists” who were bringing drugs and crime to America as a “racist statement.”

Since joining his administration in April, the fourth to hold it since he took office, McEnany claimed that she “very quickly came around and supported the president.”

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