Gillibrand Not Calling on Biden to Stay Out of Race: He Has to Address Allegations ‘With the Voters’

Presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is not calling on Vice President Joe Biden to stay out of the 2020 race after misconduct allegations were leveled against him last week.

“These individuals feel demeaned and that’s not okay,” Gillibrand told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews regarding the allegations from former Nevada assemblywoman Lucy Flores against Biden.

“You know what I’m trying to do is get an answer here on this very tough question,” Matthews followed up after Gillibrand dodged his initial question about Biden’s fitness to run. “Is he fit to be the nominee and fit for the office?”

“I think it’s an issue he will have to address with voters and the voters will have to decide,” said Gillibrand, who is polling at around one percent in early primary data.

Matthews questioned Gillibrand how the allegations against Biden are different from those against former Democratic Senator Al Franken, whose resignation Gillibrand pushed for after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

“They are very different,” she replied. “Franken obviously had eight credible allegations against him that were corroborated in realtime.”

After Gillibrand restated her opposition to Franken by saying “It’s not okay to grope a woman, any part of her body, without consent or forcibly kiss a woman without consent,” Matthews again asked the senator to say whether or not Biden should “quit” the race before officially entering it.

“Do you call on him to leave the race?” the host quizzed.

“I do not and what I’m saying now is it’s something he’s going to have to address,” Gillibrand said.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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