Trump agrees with Kim, rips Biden at Japan presser

President Trump on Monday tore into Joe Biden on the international stage, agreeing with a foreign strongman’s characterization of the former vice president as “low IQ” and ripping his record during a press conference in Japan.

Asked whether he was siding with a foreign dictator over a vice president from his own country, Trump did not back down. 

{mosads}”Kim Jong Un made a statement that Joe Biden is a low IQ individual. He probably is based on his record. I think I agree with him on that,” Trump said while standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a press conference in Tokyo.

When he was asked a follow-up question, Trump railed on the Obama administration’s foreign policy with regards to North Korea and Iran, singling out the Iran nuclear deal as a disaster. 

“I don’t take sides as to who I’m in favor of, who I’m not,” Trump added. “But I can tell you that Joe Biden was a disaster. His administration with President Obama, they were basically a disaster when it came to so many things.”

The president further disparaged the Obama administration’s handling of the economy and the military.

“I’m not a fan,” he said.

Trump had drawn criticism on Sunday for a tweet he’d sent that said he smiled with Kim described Biden as a low IQ individual. An initial version of the tweet misspelled Biden’s name as “Bidan.”

In the past, it was unusual for a U.S. president to criticize a political rival while overseas, though Trump has moved away from that precedent. 

Biden is running for president and leads polls in the Democratic primary. He has put his electability at the center of his campaign while arguing he is the Democrat best positioned to defeat Trump in an election next year.

Whereas other Democratic candidates have largely avoided directly campaigning against the president, Biden’s Twitter feed and stump speeches have been littered with criticisms of Trump’s character, rhetoric and policies.

In a tweet sent Sunday evening, Biden shared a clip of a campaign speech with the caption: “Everybody knows who Donald Trump is, we have to let them know who we are. We choose hope over fear. Truth over lies. And unity over division.”

Trump is the first U.S. president to engage in direct talks with a North Korean leader, and Trump showered Kim with praise during his remarks in Japan, calling him a very smart man. 

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, asserted this weekend that Kim violated a United Nations Security Council resolution by firing short-range projectiles in recent weeks.

The president said Monday he views the matter “differently,” and maintained Kim would ultimately come back to the negotiating table.

“I view it as a man — perhaps he wants to get attention and perhaps not,” Trump said. “Who knows. It doesn’t matter. All I know is there have been no nuclear tests. There have been no ballistic missiles going out. There have been no long-range missiles going out. And I think that some day we’ll have a deal. I’m not in a rush.”

The two leaders have met face-to-face on two separate occasions in the past year, though North Korea has yet to take concrete steps toward denuclearization.

Monday’s press conference took place immediately after the president and the prime minister met with family members of those abducted by North Korea. Trump pledged to assist Japan in seeking the return of those abductees.