Biden calls out Rudy Giuliani as ‘Russian pawn’ in debate

• Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called former New York City Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani “a Russian pawn” during Thursday’s debate.
• In recent weeks, Giuliani has played a large role in pushing out controversial and unverified information oabout the business dealings of Hunter Biden, one of Joe Biden’s children.
• Biden seemed to be referring to a Washington Post report that Russian intelligence agencies focused on Giuliani as a top target to push their preferred narrative.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani a “Russian pawn” in the second presidential debate against President Donald Trump.

Giuliani, an ally of Trump, has in recent days pushed dubious allegations that Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has been involved in shady business dealings, and has said that he has incriminating evidence on Hunter.

Biden’s camp has described the claims as an effort to undermine confidence in the United States presidential election.

“His own national security adviser told him that what is happening with his buddy, Rudy Giuliani, he’s being used as a Russian pawn, he’s being fed information that is Russian — that is not true. And then what happens? Nothing happens,” Biden said. “And then you find out that everything that’s going on here about Russia is wanting to make sure that I do not get elected the next President of the United States because they know I know them and they know me.”

As Insider’s Sonam Sheth noted in Business Insider’s live fact check of the debate, Biden appeared to be referring to reporting in the Washington Post that Russian intelligence was zeroing in on Giuliani as a potential target. When Trump was informed of the Russian’s efforts, he said, “That’s Rudy,” according to the Post.

—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2020