New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio speaks during a news conference | Getty Images De Blasio claims Biden hasn't been vetted

Mayor Bill de Blasio said today former Vice President Joe Biden has not been sufficiently vetted by voters, despite having been in national politics since 1973 and having run for president three times.

"Joe Biden hasn't been vetted. He was in a perfect position: Early front-runner and then everyone thought he wasn't gonna make it, turned their attention to [Mike Bloomberg], Bernie [Sanders], even to [Elizabeth] Warren for a while," the mayor told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough in an interview on "Morning Joe." "Joe Biden has a lot of issues he needs to speak to. If we don't deal with it now, in the family, and have that blunt discussion, Donald Trump will."


De Blasio endorsed Sanders in February and has been acting as a surrogate since then, though much of his political activity has been confined to television appearances since the outbreak of coronavirus in New York City.

Scarborough pointed to Biden's long history in national politics as well as President Donald Trump's focus on the former vice president since he kicked off his latest campaign in April 2019.

"Donald Trump got impeached because he was so desperate to dig up dirt on Joe Biden," Scarborough said. "Do you really think that Americans are going to believe that Joe Biden hasn't been vetted enough?"

"I do," de Blasio said, citing Biden's more conservative positions on Social Security, criminal justice and the Iraq war.