Leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called a Detroit factory worker "full of s---" in a testy exchange on gun policy Tuesday as voters cast ballots in Michigan's crucial primary.
Video shared by reporters on Biden's tour of the Detroit auto plant shows the former vice president surrounded by workers as he argued face to face with a man in a hard hat and an orange high-visibility vest.
The worker accused Biden of "actively trying to end our Second Amendment right."
Biden immediately responded: "You're full of s---."
Biden was visiting with members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who are building a new Fiat Chrysler assembly plant.
"I support the Second Amendment," Biden said in the clip. But "the Second Amendment — just like right now, if you yell 'fire,' that's not free speech."
"I have a shotgun, I have a 20-gauge, a 12-gauge," Biden said. "You're not allowed to own [just] any weapon. I'm not taking your gun away at all. You need 100 rounds?"
The worker then claimed Biden had said he was going to take guns away.
"I did not say that! I did not say that!" Biden fired back, raising his voice.
The worker said he had heard Biden make that claim in a viral video.
"It's a viral video like the other ones that came out" that were "lies," Biden said.
"Don't be such a horse's a--," Biden added as the exchange grew more heated.
The National Rifle Association quickly shared the video on Twitter. "Joe: Gun owners see through your lies," the NRA's official account tweeted.
But Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates and other campaign figures retweeted numerous accounts praising Biden's stance on gun reform.
"We will literally pay them to keep promoting it," Bates tweeted, referring to the Trump campaign.
Asked for comment on Biden's remarks, Bates referred CNBC to his tweet.
The clash with a worker came as Biden worked to win Michigan's primary — and the bulk of its 125 pledged delegates — and put more distance between him and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who fell behind in polls and delegates after Super Tuesday. NBC News projected Tuesday night that Biden had indeed won.
Biden is now considered the clear front-runner to clinch the Democratic nomination and take on President Donald Trump in November.
This is not the first time Biden has locked horns on the campaign trail. After a man in Iowa made baseless accusations about Biden's son Hunter, the former vice president called the man "a damn liar" and "fat."
A spokeswoman claimed at the time that Biden had said, "Look, facts," not "Look, fat," referring to the man.
_lifesucks_ on March 10th, 2020 at 19:07 UTC »
Listen fat
TTheorem on March 10th, 2020 at 17:53 UTC »
Joe Biden is gonna fight voters that challenge him.
Halloween_Cake on March 10th, 2020 at 16:57 UTC »
Remember when a candidate couldn't spell potato and it ended his career?