Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s questioners during Thursday’s ABC Townhall included a former speechwriter for the Obama administration and the wife of a former Pennsylvania Democratic candidate, Fox News reported.
The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Nathan Osburn as a “former Obama administration speech writer” who helped to start a “Philly for Pete” group that supported Pete Buttigieg in the Democratic primary, Fox News reported. Osburn was also listed by the LGBTQ Victory Institute as a senior speechwriter for the Small Business Administration under the Obama-Biden administration.
The ABC News chyron listed Osburn’s profession as “communications” when he asked the former vice president about Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. (RELATED: Joe Biden Suggests Police Should Shoot Criminals ‘In The Leg’ Instead Of Shooting ‘To Kill’)
“Amy Coney Barrett is being pushed through at the last minute, even though millions have already voted,” Osburn said during the Townhall. “So what do you think about ideas from people like Pete Buttigieg and others to put in place safeguards that will help ensure more long-term balance and stability? And what do you say to LGBTQ Americans and others who are very worried right now about erosions of their rights and our democracy as a whole?”
Pressed repeatedly by @GStephanopoulos on his position on court packing, Joe Biden says, “I’m not a fan … it depends on how this turns out,” adding that it depends on how Republicans handle the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. https://t.co/JEyTOkB6qk pic.twitter.com/rpcrzh5aRO
— ABC News (@ABC) October 16, 2020
During the exchange that followed, Biden refused to give an answer on whether or not he would pack the Supreme Court, but said that he is “not a fan” of court packing and promised to give an answer before the election.
“It depends on how much they rush this,” Biden said, referring to President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. “Here you got a lot of people not being able to pay their mortgage, not being able to put food on the table, not being able to keep their business open, not being able to do anything to deal with what’s going on in terms of the economy as a consequence of COVID, and they have no time to deal with that, but they have time to rush this through.”
Another questioner was Mieke Haeck, the wife of Pennsylvania Democrat Ezra Nanes, Fox News reported. Nanes ran a campaign in 2018 challenging Republican state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, and currently is a member of the Centre County Democratic Committee. ABC said on the chyron that Haeck was a physical therapist.
“My youngest daughter is transgender,” Haeck said. “The Trump administration has attacked the rights of transgender people, banning them from military service, weakening nondiscrimination protections and even removing the word ‘transgender’ from some government websites. How will you as president reverse this dangerous and discriminatory agenda and ensure that the lives and rights of LGBTQ people are protected under U.S. law?”
Biden responded that he would “flat out just change the law.”
“The idea that an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know, I decided I want to be transgender. That’s what I think I’d like to be. It would make my life a lot easier,’ there should be zero discrimination,” Biden said. “And what’s happening is too many transgender women of color are being murdered.”
Biden’s previous town hall on NBC faced controversy after two of the “undecided voters” that were in the audience turned out to have told MSNBC in August that they planned on voting for the former Vice President.