Jill Biden: Joe will need to be a ‘better judge’ when it comes to comforting people

Jill Biden, the wife of 2020 White House hopeful Joe Biden, said that her husband is going to have to be a “better judge” of when it is appropriate to comfort people after he has faced accusations of inappropriate touching.

Jill Biden defended the former vice president during an interview with “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts that was released Tuesday.

{mosads}”I think what you don’t realize is how many people approach Joe. Men and women, looking for comfort or empathy,” the former second lady said. “But going forward, I think he’s gonna have to judge — be a better judge — of when people approach him, how he’s going to react. That he maybe shouldn’t approach them.”

She added that she had known her husband for 44 years “and one of the things I’ve always admired about him is the way he does connect with people.”

Jill Biden said she “hadn’t heard negative comments” in those 44 years but emphasized that now “is a different time.”

“Women, men are in a different place now. And so we have to honor that,” she added.

.@DrBiden to @RobinRoberts: “I’ve known Joe for 44 years and one of the things I’ve always admired about him is the way he does connect with people. And in 44 years I hadn’t heard negative comments, but now is a different time and we have to honor that.” https://t.co/wfHtIS0Nku pic.twitter.com/v6VvHGDN4R

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 30, 2019

Jill Biden, who holds a doctorate in educational leadership and was a teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, told “Good Morning America” that other men have made her uncomfortable in the past.

“Yes, it’s happened to me and I’ve come home and I told Joe about it,” she said during the interview.

“She’d never tell me the names though,” he interjected.

“Yes, I’ve felt that men were in my space,” Jill Biden said, saying she handled it by stepping aside and not addressing it.

“There was a time when women were afraid to speak out and I can remember it specifically — it was in a job interview,” she said. “So that’s where we’ve moved from. If that same thing happened today, I’d turn around and say ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ ”

.@DrBiden to @RobinRoberts: “Yes I’ve felt that men were in my space…I just sort of stepped aside. I didn’t address it. Like you’ve said, things have changed.” https://t.co/wfHtIS0Nku pic.twitter.com/PqLC6QYz6y

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 30, 2019

Several women came forward before Joe Biden, 76, launched his presidential campaign last week to say that he had touched them inappropriately or made them feel uncomfortable.

Joe Biden defended his behavior on Friday as innocent, describing his public displays of affection as a means of connecting with people on the campaign trail.

“I’m really sorry if what I did in talking to them in trying to console, if in fact they took it in a different way,” he said on “The View” talk show. “It’s my responsibility to make sure that I bend over backwards to understand how not to do that.”

“So I invaded your space and I’m sorry this happened,” he added. “But I’m not sorry in the sense I think I did anything that was intentionally wrong or did anything inappropriate.”