Photo galleries by Ty O’Neil | Cover image by Trevor Bexon
Joe Biden disagrees with President Trump’s foreign policy decisions, a fact made clear during a campaign stop by the former Vice President and current presidential candidate Friday, Jan. 10 in Sparks.
Speaking to a crowd of about 600 supporters in the gymnasium at Sparks High School, Biden highlighted his differences with President Trump over the Iran situation that has seen tensions escalate over the first half of January.
Biden blamed Trump’s decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal for the current tensions with Iran.
“Everything’s been brought on by the President’s action of walking away from the nuclear deal with Iran that everyone in the world acknowledges was being adhered to,” he said.
Biden also expressed concern over the continued battle against ISIS in Iraq and the relationships with our allies in the region.
“There were tens of thousands of Iranians marching against Iranian influence in Iraq [a month ago]. Now you have the [Iraq] parliament voting to expel America from Iraq.”
He said the reason these missiles were able to be fired was that the Obama administration paid for them. Flat lie.”
The candidate also responded to President Trump’s most recent speeches that reference the Obama administration paying for the missiles used to attack American forces in Iraq on Jan. 7.
“I asked the president [Trump], to stop literally lying about real presidential world leadership in our administration [Obama’s]. He said the reason these missiles were able to be fired was that the Obama administration paid for them,” Biden said. “Flat lie. Not a penny of American money went there. The deal to get them [Iran] to give up their nuclear plan was to free up the money internationally that was confiscated and froze in the banks.”
Shortly after Biden was introduced by Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall at the beginning of the event, eight protesters stood from their seats in the middle of the gymnasium and held signs that spelled out, “Where’s Hunter?”
Biden asked them to sit down, they did and then left.
The signs were in reference to Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, who has been criticized by President Trump due to his board position at a Ukraine natural gas company while Joe Biden was Vice President.
Dennis and Lynn Smith traveled from Storey County to attend the rally.
“I think there are a lot of good Democratic Party candidates but Joe Biden is different. In the process of his experience in the Senate and Vice Presidency, he’s gained the wisdom needed for this job,” they said. “Other Democratic candidates have great ideas, but they don’t have the heart like Joe does.”
Toward the end of his speech, Biden referred to this election as a “battle for the soul of America,” and the importance of defeating Trump in the general election because “our children are listening.”
Biden’s visit is part of a two day Nevada campaign trip that continued in Las Vegas on Saturday as the February Nevada caucus approaches.
