NEW HAVEN — Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to a crowd at Southern Connecticut State University on Friday, three days after making headlines for saying he would “beat the hell” out of President Donald Trump.
Biden addressed domestic and foreign policy, immigration, his ongoing commitment to cancer research, and the loss of his son, Beau. Biden known for his impassioned off-the-cuff remarks, is likely to make some surprise remarks concerning his potential 2020 presidential run and his ongoing feud with Trump.
The vice president was scheduled to speak at 7:30 p.m. but arrive an hour late. Biden apologized to the crowd and said it was because he accepted an award for his friend, John McCain, former Republican nominee who is currently battling cancer.
The Lecture Series was moderated by Lucy Nalpathanchil, host of WNPR’s “Where We Live” talk show followed by an audience question-and-answer session.
The annual lecture, called "A Conversation With Vice President Joe Biden," is part of the 20th Annual Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture Series.
FOX 61 was able to speak with students before the event as well attendees to get their thoughts. "I think it’s just a really good thing if you see your leaders to go seek them out and hear what they have to say and kind of get inspired, get new ideas about what you want to see," Alicia Moroyoqui, junior at Southern.
"I think for the fact that him just focusing on the gun reform and the people and just being sincere about what we can do for the future," said Ray Capanzana, senior at Southern.
"Biden strikes me as someone who is a nice person and I think when you see them live, you can tell if that’s really the case or not," said Katherine Marschall of Hamden.
"I’ve always admired his candor, his intelligence, and I’d like to hear his opinion about what’s going on as too many of our politicians these days are too afraid to speak the truth," said Stephen Moses of Orange.
"We are less divided as people on issues than when I ran as a 28-year old kid who announced my candidacy for the United States Senate. By that I mean, think about it - on every major issue, from same sex marriage to infrastructure, there’s somewhere between 54 and 78 percent of people agree," said Biden.
The New Haven event sold out in less than two days and the media was only allowed to film the first five minutes of the speech.