Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker leaped to the defense of his rival Joe Biden after scathing attacks by President Trump over the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine.

The New Jersey senator threatened that if you smear the former vice president, you have to deal with him first.

Booker made the laughable comments in a CNN interview, during which he claimed that Biden did nothing wrong when he pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings, an energy company run by a Ukrainian oligarch.

At the time, Joe’s son Hunter was on Burisma’s board of directors, raking in a whopping $50,000 a month for the cushy part-time gig.

“I’ve said time and time again that this is unacceptable. If you come after Joe Biden, you’re going to have to deal with me,” Booker told CNN. “These are baseless, unfounded, scurrilous lies — plain and simple — trying to undermine the character of one of the statesmen of our country. So, yeah, you’ve got a problem with me.”

(Source: CNN)

Cory did not address the damning video where Biden bragged about abusing his power as vice president by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine didn’t fire the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company.

Under pressure from Biden, that prosecutor was eventually fired.

“I can’t speak for this in a political context,” Booker said. “This is just me as an American to see these kinds of attacks — whether it’s the lies this president tells about Joe Biden or lies that he tells about other American citizens — to demean and denigrate them.”

Joe Biden brags about how he threatened to pull $1 billion in loan guarantees from Ukraine if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The prosecutor, who was fired, was leading a corruption investigation into a company that employed Biden's son, Hunter pic.twitter.com/xZd3vIMbuL — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 20, 2019

Interestingly, Booker hesitated when asked if he would vote to convict President Trump if an impeachment vote passed the House of Representatives and moved to the Senate.

“I am a juror and I want to look at what the articles of impeachment are. I want to look at all the evidence,” Booker said. “But I’m just going to tell you, just as an American, this is just not offensive, I think it’s grounds for impeachment. So I’m looking forward to the fullness of this coming out.”

When asked if Trump had committed any impeachable offenses (for which right now there is little-to-no evidence), Booker hedged with an indirect answer.

“If you want to ask me what I believe right now, what he has done is pretty damning,” Booker said.

A top Democrat says Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scared to take a vote on impeachment in the House of Representatives because she’s afraid the charade will blow up in her face.

Flashback: Cory Booker informally launched his presidential campaign in September 2018, when he comically declared that he was “Spartacus” while showboating during Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

(Source: Fox News

Three weeks later, President Trump mocked “Spartacus” during a raucous campaign rally.

“How about Cory Booker? Did you watch the performance?” Trump asked. “He ran Newark, New Jersey into the ground [when he was mayor from 2006-2013] and now he wants to be president? What was the moment he said he had? [‘Spartacus!’] I don’t think so. We’ll take Kirk Douglas at his prime. Booker ran Newark into the ground.”

While Booker claims Biden did nothing wrong, a new USA Today poll shows that Americans favor investigating Biden’s alleged self-dealings by two to one.

Steve Bannon: Trump will be impeached by December and Hillary will run again