Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would not order his administration to investigate Donald Trump if the former vice president is elected in 2020.

"Look, I would not direct my Justice Department like this president does. I would let them make their independent judgment," Biden said during the fifth Democratic debate in Atlanta.

"I would not dictate who should be prosecuted or who should be exonerated. That's not the role of the president of the United States," Biden said.

Biden said he would do "whatever is determined by the attorney general."

"If that was the judgment, that he violated the law and he should be in fact criminally prosecuted, then so be it, but I would not direct it," Biden said.