By MARK GILLISPIE, Associated Press

LORDSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can't be trusted to control the nation's nuclear arsenal.

"Just imagine giving this guy access to the nuclear codes, a guy who says how he'd consider using nuclear weapons," Biden told a group of about 250 people at a United Auto Workers union hall outside of Youngstown.

It's the second time in recent weeks that Biden has campaigned on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He and Clinton made a joint appearance in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in mid-August.

Biden received an expected warm welcome at the union hall as he discussed the importance of unions and the middle class. His appearance Thursday in the Mahoning Valley is significant because of Ohio's traditional role as a bellwether state in presidential elections and Trump's strength in the region during the state's Republican primary. Trump received more votes than popular Republican Gov. John Kasich in all of Ohio's eastern counties.

When talking about middle class struggles, Biden said Clinton "gets it."

"She never yields," Biden said. "She never breaks."

Trump, on the other hand, was "born with a silver spoon in his mouth and is choking because he has his foot in his mouth," the vice president said.

Biden seemed to relish the attacks on Trump. He said he met recently with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to reassure them that Trump doesn't represent America. Biden said the three presidents are "scared to death" about the prospects of a Trump presidency and whether he would maintain the country's commitments to its NATO allies if they faced aggression from Russia.

In July, Trump said the United States might abandon its NATO military commitments, including the obligation to defend members against attacks.

"I don't think he's a bad guy, but he's totally and completely uninformed," Biden said.

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This story has been corrected to show Biden spoke on Thursday.