[indiscernible] after filing candidacy paperwork, democratic presidential candidate joe biden spoke at a rally outside the new hampshire statehouse. by his wifeduced jill biden and john lynch, the former democratic governor of new hampshire. ♪

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[cheers and applause] >> general president of the international association of firefighters. and president of the firefighters of new hampshire. [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. thank you all for being here. president joe biden, doesn't that sound great? [cheering and applause] >> i am supporting joe biden for a number of reasons but there are four main ones. i trust joe biden. joe biden is going to restore the soul of this country and the character of the white house. wouldn't that be nice? [cheering and applause] >> joe biden will bring integrity in defense of ethics

and decency, and honesty to the white house. [cheering and applause] >> joe biden will be able to build a team of outstanding policy advisers, domestic policy advisers, and foreign policy advisers and staff them with competent people, something we do not see with this current white house. [cheering and applause] >> i like joe biden. [cheering and applause] >> he is genuine, caring, authentic, and such a decent, wonderful person. i can't wait for him to get into the white house. [cheering and applause] >> joe biden will beat donald trump. [cheering and applause]

>> dr. jill biden is the fourth reason i am supporting joe biden. [cheering and applause] >> joe biden has been a fierce advocate for children, women, for people who have suffered domestic abuse, for veterans, men and women in the military, and it will be great to have joe biden in the white house, won't it? it is my great pleasure to introduce dr. jill biden. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: thank you, governor lynch. thank you. joe and i are so happy to be back in new hampshire and especially to see you and susan again and now that we have

julia, your daughter, thank you for coming. i was recently at a greek festival here in new hampshire, and we went with the lynch's, and what stood out to me was just how much admiration and affection that granite staters have for both of you. i want to thank you for your friendship and your support. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: thank you for sharing this day with us. friendship like yours is without measure. the men and women you represent are incredibly important to me and to joe. i taught a lot of firefighters over the years, and their commitment to their communities and their selflessness, their dedication to professionalism

and especially their courage and what they deserve. they deserve our gratitude and our respect. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: there are so many things that of my husband's career i am proud of, from the bills he passed in the senate to the work he did side-by-side with president obama for eight years. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: he demanded justice for women and lead culture change through the violence against women act. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: he stood up to the nra and he won, twice. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: he fought for the final votes to get the affordable care act passed.

[cheering and applause] dr. biden: and he led the moonshot effort to end cancer as we know it. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: but so many things that make me the proudest of him were not covered by the news and congressional library. once when he was on a photo line, he met a little boy with a stutter. joe had a stutter as a child as well. joe gave the boy's mom a number to call so that they could visit the white house the next time that they were in the d.c. a few months later, this little boy and his mom did return to the white house, and joe took them along to his speech press, and joe showed the little boy how he would mark up his speech and use rhythm to get through it. he talked about how much fear he used to have himself about his own impediment and how he learned to overcome it, and he

encourages the little boy and he says, you are so much smarter than i am. if i can do it, you can do it. joe has always been the kind of person who stops when he sees someone who is struggling. who fights for people who feel left out. even as vice president, he was never too busy to call a friend or visit a hospital of someone who was sick. his kindness, his character, it is a part of everything that he does. it is why he works so hard to make sure that the middle and working-class families don't have to worry about seeing the doctor or sending their kids to college. it is why he has had the courage to stand up for what is right again and again. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: sometimes, it is the unremarkable choices we make that define who we are.

sometimes, it is the small kindnesses that can change someone's life forever. and in a time when our nation is drowning in cynicism and corruption and cruelty, we need that kind of character more than ever. we need a leader with experience and wisdom. someone who can bring people together and not tear families apart. [cheering and applause] dr. biden: we need a commander in chief who we can trust. a president who believes that our best days are ahead of us. and that, new hampshire, is our next president of the united states, my husband, joe biden. [cheering and applause]

former vp biden: thank you, thank you, thank you. i am jill biden's husband, joe. [laughter] former vp biden: i want to thank you for coming out. i want to change on and susan and the whole lynch family. you have been standing out here a while. one of my favorite things about this is that it gives me a chance to meet some new people directly. they once asked me, what was the best thing about running for president? the main thing is the number of friends you make for the rest of your life that you meet. i called the firefighters here are led by your state president, but also by the international presidents, my buddy, and i want to thank you for all you have done for me across the country. [cheering and applause] former vp biden: i promise i will not keep you long because it is freezing out here. [laughter] former vp biden: i went to school in syracuse, it is even colder. but hearing your stories, the

fear is that people have and the discussions that took place around kitchen tables this morning of ordinary, hard-working folks, things that i think the fellow occupying the white house has no sense of, no empathy for, and no knowledge of. i wonder how would people sat the kitchen table today and said, who was going to tell her? we do not have the money to send her back to unh. or you got a ride on those tires, these are conversations in my home growing up, we have to ride those tires are another 10,000 miles, we cannot afford new tires now. practical things that affect people's everyday lives. it is about, i think is on the ballot right now, the character of our nation is on the ballot. if trump is reelected, first of all, we know that everybody is worried can we even overcome four years of him. we can.

we can overcome these four years. it is going to be hard. we need somebody to be able to reunite the country together and the world, but it is within our reach. but eight years of donald trump would fundamentally change the character of this country. and that is why i am running. [cheering and applause] former vp biden: i have learned two things. one is that vladimir putin does not want me to be president. all of those bots he put out on the internet. but also, that donald trump does not want me to be the nominee. i wonder why he does not want me to be the nominee.

let me tell you something, i tell you what. when i announced i was running, i said we were in the battle of the soul of this country. and i meant it. it is not an abstraction but living up to our values. i talk about the soul of the nation, i talk about people lying awake at night, like my dad wondering what happened if i get sick, what happens i don't have insurance, what happens to the family -- what am i going to do? or sending our kids off to school, active fire drills, live fire drills in school, sending these kids off -- how many of you did that in september? what is wrong with us. we don't have the courage to take on the nra? i have taken them on twice and

beaten them twice, and i will do it again. [cheering and applause] former vp biden: i will leave in second amendment, but nobody millions of people in america. 160 million people, and now that have insurance. the folks i am running against or with are saying you can no longer have your private insurance. i think, let them make up their own minds. if they do not want their private insurance, they can join the public option that i provided an obamacare and expanded. here is the point. the point of all of this is that we have to make -- anybody know who donald trump is -- they do. we have to let them know who we are. we stand for unity, not division. we stand for hope, not fear. we stand for science, not fiction. [cheering and applause]

former vp biden: and democrats, we stand very straightforwardly for truth, not lies. cheering and applause] former vp biden: i promise you, if i am your nominee, it is not only important that we defeat donald trump. we have to defeat them soundly to make it clear that the country will not tolerate another president like this for a long, long time. if you give me the nomination, i promise you, i am going to beat him like a drum. [cheering and applause] former vp biden: thank you all for being here. i love you. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. cheering and applause]

former vp biden: where in california? > san diego. former vp biden: sunshine in san diego.

>> thank you. good to see you. thank you.

>> thank you. >> ok. here you go. where in california? > san diego.

> how are you? thank you for being here.

♪ > thank you. >> thanks for the endorsement.

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>> where do you go to school? >> florida. >> all right, man. ♪ > thank you.

♪ >> i have to give it to him. i can't carry it with me. know. ♪ >> how are you? good to see you.

> thank you. > thank you. ♪ > good to see you. thank you so much.

♪ >> thank you. thank you. i remember talking to you.

>> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up saturday morning, we'll discuss the history and fall of the berlin wall 30 years later with museum senior vice president executive director and curator, talking about the museum's cold war berlin exhibit and then an author discusss the history and building of the berlin wall and the events leading up to november 9,s 1989. also awe nor steve vogel discuss cold wor espionage and his overage of the berlin wall and talk about germany's post berlin history.

live at 7:00 eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. >> watch the c-span networks live next week as the house intelligence committee holds the first public impeachment hearings. they will hear from three state department officials starting on wednesday at 10:00 a.m.. george kent mat in will testify. and friday, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine will appear before the committee and ahead of the hearings, testimony from the deposition. nd the transcripts at c-span .org/impeachment. >> president trump met with reporters on the white house lawn. he spoke about the phone call withkr