前副总统乔·拜登在1998年的一次电视采访中表示，对比尔·克林顿的弹劾程序可能被视为“党派私刑”，并为此道歉。
在一个由有线电视新闻网当时的特拉华州参议员说，鉴于前总统克林顿面临弹劾的威胁，历史将“质疑这是否只是党派私刑”。
拜登为自己一夜之间在社交媒体上的言论道歉，承认这“不是一个合适的词”，并在试图转移对唐纳德·特朗普的愤怒之前道歉。
对拜登来说，播出这段挖掘出来的视频的时机再糟糕不过了——几小时前，拜登还批评特朗普总统使用“私刑”一词来描述对他正在进行的弹劾调查。
在a昨天发布的推特唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)表示:“因此，有一天，如果民主党人成为总统，共和党人赢得众议院，即使是微弱的优势，他们也可以弹劾总统，而无需正当程序或公平或任何法律权利。
“所有共和党人都必须记住他们在这里目睹的一切——私刑。但是我们会赢的！”
几位评论员和社区领袖抨击特朗普使用“私刑”这个词来描述调查，因为这个词描述了从19世纪末到20世纪中叶数以千计的美国黑人被暴民杀害的事件。
全国有色人种协进会主席德里克·约翰逊在推特上写道:“对于@realDonaldTrump来说，将#私刑和弹劾的痛苦历史进行比较是淫秽和侮辱的。我们都必须记住我们在这里真正目睹的一切——来自白宫的种族主义继续渗透到这个国家的立法和语言中。”
2020年民主党初选候选人、加州前司法部长卡马拉·哈里斯在回应特朗普的推特时表示，私刑是“这个国家历史上一个应受谴责的污点”。“我们永远不会消除私刑的痛苦和创伤，用这种酷刑来粉饰自己的腐败是可耻的，”她补充道。
几位共和党人还说拒绝为总统使用该术语辩护参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔说:“鉴于我国的历史，我不会把这比作私刑。”
2019年10月10日，美国民主党总统候选人、前副总统乔·拜登在洛杉矶诺沃举行的一个专门讨论男女同性恋、双性恋和变性者问题的市政厅演讲时做手势。
前副总统拜登也决定对被谴责的“私刑”言论发表评论，他在推特上说:“弹劾不是‘私刑’，而是我们宪法的一部分。我国有着私刑的黑暗、可耻的历史，甚至考虑进行这种比较都是令人憎恶的。这是卑鄙的。”
但是在他公开谴责特朗普后不久，美国有线电视新闻网的KFile报道说，拜登在1998年用这个词描述了比尔·克林顿的弹劾之战。
在美国有线电视新闻网记者安德鲁·卡钦斯基(Andrew Kaczynski)在推特上分享的视频中，2020年民主党主要候选人表示:“即使总统应该被弹劾，历史也会质疑这是否仅仅是党派私刑，或者这是否是事实上符合标准的事情。创始人对什么构成可弹劾罪行设置的非常高的标准。”
拜登在接受美国有线电视新闻网采访的片段重新出现后，很快就为自己的语言道歉。
这位前副总统在推特上写道:“这个词用得不对，对此我很抱歉。”。“另一方面，特朗普今天在使用私刑一词时故意选择了自己的措辞，并继续每天在这个国家煽动种族分裂。”
拜登不是唯一一个因使用“私刑”一词来描述针对克林顿总统的弹劾程序而被逮捕的民主党人。
华盛顿邮报昨日报道称，“至少有5名”民主党人在1998年使用了这个词，包括民主党众议员丹尼·戴维斯(Danny K. Davis)和格雷戈里·米克斯(Gregory Meeks)，他们都将弹劾克林顿的努力描述为众议院的“私刑”。
JOE BIDEN APOLOGIZES FOR 'LYNCHING' COMMENT IN 1998: 'TRUMP ON THE OTHER HAND CHOSE HIS WORDS DELIBERATELY'
Former Vice President Joe Biden has apologized after saying the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton could be seen as a "partisan lynching" in a 1998 TV interview.
In a clip dug up from the archives by CNN, the then-senator of Delaware said history was "going to question whether or not this was just a partisan lynching" in reference to the looming threat of impeachment facing former President Clinton.
Apologizing for his remark on social media overnight, Biden admitted it "wasn't the right word to use" and said sorry before trying to redirect anger at Donald Trump.
The broadcast of the unearthed clip could not have come at a worse time for Biden—who had only hours before criticised President Trump for using the term "lynching" to describe the ongoing impeachment inquiry against him.
In a tweet posted yesterday, Donald Trump said: "So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights.
"All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!"
Several commentators and community leaders slammed Trump for using the word "lynching" to describe the inquiry, given that the word describes the mob killings of thousands of mostly black Americans stretching from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People President Derrick Johnson tweeted: "For @realDonaldTrump to compare the painful history of #lynching to impeachment is obscene and insulting. We must all remember what we are truly witnessing here - racism fueled from the White House that continues to permeate both legislation and language in this country."
Sen. Kamala Harris, a 2020 Democratic primary candidate and former attorney general of California, said lynching was a "reprehensible stain on this nation's history" in a response to Trump's tweet. "We'll never erase the pain and trauma of lynching, and to invoke that torture to whitewash your own corruption is disgraceful," she added.
Several Republicans further refused to defend the president's use of the term, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying: "Given the history in our country, I would not compare this to a lynching."
Democratic presidential hopeful former US Vice President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks during a town hall devoted to LGBTQ issues hosted by CNN and the Human rights Campaign Foundation at The Novo in Los Angeles on October 10, 2019.
Former Vice President Biden also decided to weigh in on the condemned "lynching" remark, tweeting: "Impeachment is not 'lynching,' it is part of our Constitution. Our country has a dark, shameful history with lynching, and to even think about making this comparison is abhorrent. It's despicable."
But shortly after he aired his condemnation of Trump, CNN's KFile reported that Biden had used the term himself to describe Bill Clinton's impeachment battle in 1998.
In the video shared by CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski on Twitter, the leading 2020 Democratic primary candidate said: "Even if the president should be impeached, history is going to question whether or not this was just a partisan lynching or whether or not it was something that in fact met the standard. The very high bar that was set by the founders as to what constituted an impeachable offence."
Biden was quick to apologise for his language shortly after the clip of his interview with CNN re-emerged.
"This wasn't the right word to use and I'm sorry about that," the former vice president tweeted. "Trump on the other hand chose his words deliberately today in his use of the word lynching and continues to stoke racial divides in this country daily."
Biden is not the only Democrat who has been pulled up for using the word "lynching" to describe the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that "at least 5" Democrats had used the term in 1998, including Democrat Reps. Danny K. Davis and Gregory Meeks, both of whom described the push for Clinton's impeachment as a "lynching" in the House.
