SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden returned to his birthplace in Pennsylvania, making a final campaign stop Saturday for Vice President Kamala Harris and again let loose — offering the kind of unfiltered political sentiments that have become fairly common in recent weeks.
Biden slammed Harris' rival, former Republican President Donald Trump, and his supporters on policy issues during a speech in Scranton, but then suggested that he'd hit back — literally — on faux “macho guys.”
“There’s one more thing Trump and his Republican friends want to do. They want to have a giant tax cut for the wealthy,” Biden told the local chapter of the carpenters union. Then, apparently referencing people backing Trump, he added, “Now, I know some of you guys are tempted to think it’s macho guys.”
“I tell you what, man, when I was in Scranton, we used to have a little trouble going down the plot once in a while," Biden continued. “These are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass.”
During a rally later Saturday night in North Carolina, Trump poked fun at Biden, asking the crowd, “I don't even know, is he still around?”
Biden's comment in Scranton drew laughs from the crowd. But it was another moment of his veering off political script, something that's now happening frequently with the president — even though he has played a decidedly limited role in promoting Harris, making few campaign stops for his onetime running mate.
Earlier this week, Biden sparked an uproar by responding to racist comments at a recent Trump rally made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said in response.
White House press officials altered the official transcript of Biden's remarks, drawing objections from federal workers who transcribe what the president says for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained by The Associated Press.
And the reference to “garbage” followed Biden — during a recent stop at a campaign office in New Hampshire — saying of Trump, “We’ve got to lock him up” before quickly amending his comments to note he meant that Democrats need to “politically lock him up.”
Biden’s Saturday remarks come at a moment when gender issues and diverging partisan loyalties between men and women have emerged as a top feature of the campaign.
Trump has pushed masculine tropes in a bid to garner more male voters throughout his campaign. He’s supported a return to traditional gender roles and leaned into themes like “ protecting women ” whether they “like it or not” in the campaign’s closing days.
Harris has taken a far different approach, pledging to protect access to abortion and increase government spending to help families cover the costs of housing and childcare.
Though he spent decades as a senator from Delaware, Biden spent his early childhood in Scranton and Saturday's event was a homecoming for the sidelined president in several ways. He spoke at the same union hall he visited on Election Day in 2020
“Let them know how important this election is,” Biden told the crowd of about 200 enthusiastic supporters. When he noted, “I’m nothing special," one audience member shouted back, "Sure you are,” sparking chants of “Thank you, Joe.”
The president exhorted attendees to vote “for yourself and your families, people you grew up with, the people you come from.”
“Don’t forget where you come from,” Biden thundered to shouts and applause. “Don’t leave behind the people you grew up with.”
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Weissert reported from Washington.
President Joe Biden arrives on Air Force One at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Joe Biden, center, leaves St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., after attending a mass, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Finnish authorities detained a ship linked to neighboring Russia as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables, police said, in the latest incident involving disruption of key infrastructure in the region.
Finnish police and border guards boarded the vessel, the Eagle S, early Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukku told a news conference. The vessel was being held in Finnish territorial waters, police said.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands, but was described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union's executive commission as part of Russia's shadow fleet of fuel tankers. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance. Russia's use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.
The Eagle S's anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle television reported, relying on police statements.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said in a statement that the incident was “the latest in a series of suspected attacks on critical infrastructure” and commended the Finnish authorities “for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel."
The ship “is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget,” said Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister. "We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet.”
The Estlink-2 power cable, which brings electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on Wednesday. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage.
The Estonian government met in emergency session over the incident. The shadow tankers “are helping Russia to earn funds that will aid Russian hybrid attacks,” Prime Minister Kristen Michal said at a news conference. “We need to improve the monitoring and protection of critical infrastructure both on land and on sea.”
He said repairs to the cable could take as long as seven months.
“Repeated damage to Baltic Sea infrastructure signals a systemic threat, not mere accidents,” Estonia's President Alar Karis said on X. “Estonia will take action to counter this threat, together with Finland and other NATO allies.”
Two data cables — one running between Finland and Germany and the other between Lithuania and Sweden — were severed in November. Germany’s defense minister said officials had to assume the incident was “sabotage,” but he didn't provide evidence or say who might have been responsible. The remark came during a speech in which he discussed hybrid warfare threats from Russia.
The Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022. Authorities have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal investigations.
Estonian network operator Elering says there is enough spare capacity to meet power needs on the Estonian side, public broadcaster ERR said on its website.
This photo provided by Rajavartiosto (Finnish Border Guard) on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, shows the oil tanker Eagle S at sea outside Porkkalanniemi, Finland. The Eagle S was sailing at the same time in the area where the Finland-Estonia electrical link was disrupted on Wednesday. (Rajavartiosto via AP)
This photo provided by Rajavartiosto (Finnish Border Guard) on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, shows the oil tanker Eagle S, background, and the Finnish Border Guard ship Turva at sea outside Porkkalanniemi, Finland. The Eagle S was sailing at the same time in the area where the Finland-Estonia electrical link was disrupted on Wednesday. (Rajavartiosto via AP)
FILE - Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo attends a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, as police investigating the electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia through the Estlink 2 connection which was cut on Christmas Day, according to Finnish grid operator Fingrid. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP)
Finnish National Police Comissioner Ilkka Koskim'ki attends a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, investigating the electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia through the Estlink 2 connection which was cut on Christmas Day, according to Finnish grid operator Fingrid. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP)
