Former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenCoons beats back progressive Senate primary challenger in Delaware Biden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Biden campaign manager touts 'multiple pathways' to victory MORE on Wednesday criticized President Trump's attacks on the media and judiciary, warning that such attacks hurt American democracy.

“When you delegitimize the courts, you delegitimize the legislative body,” Biden said at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., according to ABC News. "It’s corrosive, and it makes it impossible to reach compromise. To question the actual legitimacy of a free press is one of the most dangerous things out there."

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Biden did not mention Trump by name, but he was clearly referring to the president, who frequently derides media outlets he doesn't like as "fake news" and criticized a "so-called judge" for issuing a decision he disliked.

"I have taken my fair share of hits from the press, being covered by the very best and some of the worst," he continued.

"Some of you press guys are lousy just like some senators are lousy, doctors are lousy, lawyers are lousy. But it doesn't matter. We should never challenge the basic truth that an independent and free press is the fundamental element in functions of our democracy."

“The degree that we depart and denigrate our institutions and the fourth estate, I think we really, honest to god, honest to god, weaken our ability for self-government. We undermine it and become weaker and not stronger," Biden said.

“What worries me the most [is the] almost daily drumbeat of denigration of the institutional structures that govern us,” he said.

Trump on Monday accused The New York Times of having "evil" intent.

“The intent is so evil and so bad,” he told Breitbart News in a sit-down interview in the Oval Office. "The stories are wrong in so many cases, but it’s the overall intent.”

Trump last month labeled a federal judge a “so-called judge” for issuing a “ridiculous” nationwide restraining order on his controversial travel ban affecting people from seven Muslim-majority nations and refugees.