Jill Biden praises ‘courage’ of women who spoke out about husband’s physical touching

‘Look, it took a lot of courage for women to step forward and say, you know, “You’re in my space”, and Joe heard that’

Jill Biden has spoken out about accusations surrounding her husband’s physical interactions with women, saying in a new interview “it took a lot of courage for women to step forward”.

The former second lady joined The Daily Show on Wednesday to discuss her new book, Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, as well as her husband’s 2020 presidential bid.

She responded to host Trevor Noah’s questions about Joe Biden being “too massage-y with people” by saying she’s prepared to confront those issues alongside her husband on the campaign trail, calling it “part of the game”.

“Look, it took a lot of courage for women to step forward and say, you know, ‘You’re in my space’, and Joe heard that,” she said on Wednesday. “And it just won’t happen again. He heard what they were saying.”

Mr Biden – the clear frontrunner thus far in the Democratic primaries – has also addressed the issue that plagued the rollout of his campaign launch, saying he’s sorry to those who have been made to feel uncomfortable by his interactions.

“Social norms are changing,” he said in a statement near the start of his candidacy. “I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.

“That’s my responsibility and I will meet it,” he added.

On Wednesday, Ms Biden said she and her husband were not initially planning on running for the White House once again in 2020 – until Americans across the country, and their own grandchildren, urged them.

“We started to think about it and then we called our family together, we spoke to our children, we got our grandchildren all together,” she said. “And we said, what do you think? Do you think Pop should run for president? And to a grandchild they said – Pop has to run. He has to change the direction and bring people together and stop all this vitriol in this country.”

Mr Biden has continued to rise in the polls since announcing his campaign earlier this year, and recently unveiled one of his first major proposals, focusing on education and teachers.

The issue of his interactions could continue to cause controversy along the campaign trail, however; just this week the former vice president drew headlines for telling a 10-year-old girl in front of reporters: “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good looking,” before placing his hands on her shoulders.