‘I beat you like a drum’ in 2020 election: Biden to Trump

US Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden has lashed out at President Donald Trump for his efforts to "destroy" the former vice president and his family, vowing to beat the US president "like a drum" in the 2020 election.

Biden accused Trump on Sunday of “abusing the power of the presidency” by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call to investigate him and his son, Hunter, over their financial dealings.

The 76-year-old said Trump has “corrupted the agencies of his administration — including the State Department, the National Security Council staff, the Justice Department and the office of the vice president” in his pursuit to do so.

"Enough is enough," Biden wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. "Every day — every few hours, seemingly — more evidence is uncovered revealing that President Trump is abusing the power of the presidency and is wholly unfit to be president. He is using the highest office in the land to advance his personal political interests instead of the national interest."

The former US vice president said Trump's action showed that "he considers the presidency a free pass to do whatever he wants, with no accountability."

"Our first president, George Washington, famously could not tell a lie. President Trump seemingly cannot tell the truth — about anything," Biden noted. "He slanders anyone he sees as a threat. That is why is he is frantically pushing flat-out lies, debunked conspiracy theories and smears against me and my family, no doubt hoping to undermine my candidacy for the presidency."

The 2020 presidential candidate, however, underscored that he would not allow Trump to intimidate him despite a push to tarnish his reputation.

"To Trump and those who facilitate his abuses of power, and all the special interests funding his attacks against me: Please know that I’m not going anywhere," Biden concludes in his op-ed. "You won’t destroy me, and you won’t destroy my family. And come November 2020, I intend to beat you like a drum."

During the July 25 call, Trump reportedly urged Zelenskiy about eight times to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate government corruption involving Biden and his son, warning that he would not give Ukraine the promised military aid in case he refused.

PressTV-'Trump pressed Ukraine president to probe Biden’s son'

President Trump in a July phone call repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, a report says.

The call prompted Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry based on a whistleblower complaint that accused Trump of "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election."

The White House also released a memo of the July call between the presidents, in which Trump encouraged Zelensky to look into Biden.

The US president dismissed the Ukraine allegations as another witch-hunt aimed at smearing him and damage his popularity as the Americans get closer to the 2020 presidential election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who launched an impeachment inquiry of Trump late last month, said he betrayed his oath of office by seeking help from a foreign power to hurt his Democratic rival and that a successful impeachment would be worth losing the Democrats’ House majority in 2020.

PressTV-Pelosi: Trump impeachment worth losing House in 2020

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that a successful impeachment of President Donald Trump would be worth losing the Democrats’ House majority in 2020.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday, nearly half of Americans -- 45 percent -- believe Trump should be impeached, a figure that increased by 8 percentage points during the past week as more people learned about the scandal.

The poll findings reflect several other recent surveys, which have shown that support is increasing among Americans for an impeachment inquiry into Trump.

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