Find out what Joe Biden said about Trump and the Saudis, impeachment and whether he will run for president

Jessica Bies
The News Journal
Former United States Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in London, on Oct. 10, 2018.

Joe Biden told CBS "This Morning" that he's concerned Trump "seems to have a love affair with autocrats" and "coddles" dictators, including North Korea's Kim Jong Un, Russia's Vladimir Putin and the Saudi ruling family.

Trump either "doesn't know what he's doing or he has an absolutely convoluted notion" of America's leadership in the world, Biden said.

The wide-ranging interview covered several topics, including Saudia Arabia, voter supression, impeachment and the 2020 presidential race. Here are the highlights: 

Should Saudi Arabia be punished? 

If the allegations are true and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia played a role in the disappearance and murder of journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, there should be consequences, Biden said in the interview.  

"This was a permanent American resident, he had a permanent green card," Biden told CBS. "This is as close as you can get to citizenship. He lived here. The idea that we would not take retaliation against that is ridiculous." 

Should Democrats impeach Trump? 

Despite his concerns about Trump, Biden hopes there is no effort to impeach the president now, saying they should wait to take action until the conclusion of an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. 

"I don't think there's a basis for doing that right now," Biden told "This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell. "I think we should focus on all the terrible things that are happening now in terms of interest of the middle-class people and working class people. There are so many things to attend to immediately." 

Are voters being suppressed? 

Biden also said voters were "absolutely, positively, without question" being suppressed in the United States. 

He talked about Georgia, where dozens of elderly black voters were recently removed from a bus taking them to vote. More than 53,000 voter registration applications there are also on hold. 

"Seventy percent of those are African American," Biden told CBS. "Suprise, surprise." 

Will Biden run for president? 

Biden told O'Donnell what factors will go into his decision about whether he will run for the presidency in 2020.   

"I don't think about the polling data. I think about whether or not I should run based on very private decisions relating to my family and the loss of my son and what I want to do with the rest of my life," Biden said. "But I don't think of it in terms of can I win, can I – will I lose. That's not part of the calculation."

Is Trump being tough enough? 

White House aides suggest that while Trump doesn't criticize certain world leaders publicly, he's willing to deliver tough messages behind closed doors.

The president disputed claims he is "giving cover" to Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally with whom Washington cooperates on oil, anti-terrorism and arms sales, and that acts as a bulwark against the U.S.'s regional enemy, Iran.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain, in 2015.

"I want to find out what happened, where is the fault, and we will probably know that by the end of the week ... Mike Pompeo is coming back, we're gonna have a long talk," Trump said. 

Trump previously floated the idea Khashoggi may have been killed by "rogue killers" and in his phone calls with Saudi King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has appeared willing to accept their denials of having any knowledge of what went on inside the consulate or who may have ordered Khashoggi's killing. 

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has called the alarming allegations against it completely "baseless." Yet Saudi authorities have failed to produce any evidence of their own proving that Khashoggi left its diplomatic compound in Istanbul on Oct. 2, while a growing file of circumstantial evidence has become increasingly hard to dismiss.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, walks alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after arriving in Riyadh, on October 16, 2018.

The pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak claimed Wednesday that the 60-year-old journalist who wrote for the Washington Post was accosted by a team of Saudi agents immediately upon entering the consulate, cutting off his fingers and later decapitating him

Sabah, a separate Turkish newspaper with close government ties, on Thursday published surveillance video images showing a man who previously traveled with Saudi Arabia's crown prince on a visit to the U.S. in March walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul shortly before Khashoggi disappeared there.

"If a country engages in activity that is unlawful, it's unacceptable. No one is going to defend activity of that nature. They need to simply say what happened," Pompeo said in Turkey after holding talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Pompeo declined to say whether he heard or viewed evidence Turkish security officials claim to possess. 

On his way home to Washington from Turkey on Wednesday, Pompeo acknowledged growing calls for answers: "Sooner’s better than later for everyone." 

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The Associated Press and USA Today contributed to this report. Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.