Biden accuser slams joke on hugging: ‘It’s clear Joe Biden hasn’t reflected at all’

Lucy Flores, the first woman in recent days to accuse Joe Biden of inappropriate touching, slammed the former vice president for making a joke about the allegations on Friday.

Biden, who is expected to jump into the 2020 presidential race in the coming weeks, joked twice Friday during a speech in Washington about several women’s claims that he made them uncomfortable with overly intimate contact.

“I want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie,” Biden said after he embraced Lonnie Stephenson, the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, drawing laughter from the crowd.

It’s clear @JoeBiden hasn’t reflected at all on how his inappropriate and unsolicited touching made women feel uncomfortable. To make light of something as serious as consent degrades the conversation women everywhere are courageously trying to have.

— Lucy Flores (@LucyFlores) April 5, 2019

{mosads}Biden referenced the accusations again during his speech after putting his arm around a child on the event’s stage.

“By the way, he gave me permission to touch him,” he said.

The jokes follow a video Biden released Wednesday in which he did not apologize for his past behavior, but said he’d be more mindful of women’s personal space.

“Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it,” he said in the video. “I hear what they’re saying. I understand it. I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility, and I’ll meet it.”

However, Biden refused to apologize for his actions while talking with reporters after his D.C. speech.

“I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I have never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman. So that’s not the reputation I’ve had since I was in high school, for God’s sakes,” he said.

“It was not my intent to make light of anyone’s discomfort,” Biden added. “I realize my responsibility is to not invade the space of anyone who is uncomfortable.”

Flores, a former Democratic candidate for Nevada lieutenant governor, was the first of multiple women to come out in recent days with allegations of inappropriate touching. She said last Friday that Biden put his hands on her shoulders, leaned in to smell her hair and then kissed the back of her head when she was about to take the stage for a campaign rally.