Speaker asks former vice-president to ‘join the straight-arm club’ but says his behavior doesn’t disqualify him from a 2020 run

Nancy Pelosi – widely seen as the most powerful woman in Washington – has some advice for Joe Biden: keep your hands to yourself.

As Biden, the former vice-president, scrambles to contain any political damage over his past behavior with women, the House speaker said at an event in Washington that her fellow Democrat and other male politicians should keep their distance during encounters with women and restrain from being touchy-feely.

“Join the straight-arm club with me,” Pelosi, who is the first female speaker, said of Biden during a live interview with Politico on Tuesday. “He’s an affectionate person, to children, to senior citizens, to everyone, but that’s just not the way.”

Over the past week, Biden – who has long been expected to launch a bid to be the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2020 any time now – has been the subject of damaging news reports after two women accused him of inappropriate behavior towards them.

Pelosi said the two allegations of unwelcome contact should not keep Biden from running for the presidency in 2020.

“I don’t think it’s disqualifying,” she told the event on Tuesday. But she added that Biden “has to understand that in the world we are in now, people’s space is important to them and what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it”.

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The former Nevada lawmaker Lucy Flores described in an essay for the Cut her discomfort when Biden kissed her on the head during a campaign event in 2014. She has since said the episode is disqualifying and that he should not run.

Amy Lappos, from Connecticut, also detailed an unwanted exchange with the former vice-president, describing how he grabbed her head and they rubbed noses during a 2009 fundraiser. She said she was prompted to recount the allegation publicly after watching the treatment of Flores.

Biden issued a statement on Sunday saying he does not believe he has acted inappropriately during his long public life. The former vice-president said in that statement: “We have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences, and men should pay attention. And I will.”

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In a statement on Monday, a Biden spokesman, Bill Russo, blasted “rightwing trolls” from “the dark recesses of the internet” for conflating images of Biden embracing acquaintances, colleagues and friends in his official capacity during swearing-in ceremonies with uninvited touching.

Biden hasn’t made a final decision on whether to run for the White House. But the developments underscored some challenges he will face if he does run.

Following historic wins in the 2018 midterms, Democratic politics is dominated by energy from women. The allegations could leave the 76-year-old Biden, long known for his tactile mannerisms, appearing out of touch with the party as the Democratic presidential primary begins.

Asked on Monday about the accusations against Biden, Pelosi said: “I don’t think that this disqualifies him from running for president, not at all.”

But Biden’s potential Democratic rivals haven’t rushed to back him up. Over the weekend, the presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand came closest to calling out the former vice-president. Warren, a Massachusetts senator, said Biden “needs to give an answer” about what occurred. Gillibrand, a New York senator, said, “If vice-president Biden becomes a candidate, this is a topic he’ll have to engage on further.”

Ultraviolet, a women’s advocacy group, tweeted: “Joe Biden cannot paint himself as a champion of women and then refuse to listen and learn from a woman who says his actions demeaned her. Good intentions don’t matter if the actions are inappropriate. Do better, Joe. And thank you @LucyFlores for coming forward.”

On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, strongly denied any suggestion that anyone from the senator’s team or his allies encouraged Lucy Flores to publish her account of an unwelcome interaction with Biden.

“Neither the Bernie Sanders campaign nor anyone involved in it, planted, planned, persuaded, cajoled or otherwise urged Lucy Flores or anyone else to tell their story. Full stop, period, end of sentence. I don’t want to hear it. We didn’t play a role,” he said.

Flores, the former Nevada lawmaker, supported Sanders during the 2016 election and was on the board of his group Our Revolution.

The Associated Press contributed to this report