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President Donald Trump attacked his predecessor, Joe Biden, during a press conference on Friday, May 30.
When asked about Biden’s recent stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis, the president said, “If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel so sorry.”
The comments come just days after Trump called Biden “scum” and shared social media comments that referred to the former president as a “decrepit corpse.”
President Donald Trump continued his personal attacks on Joe Biden when asked about the former president’s recent stage 4 cancer diagnosis on Friday, May 30.
While speaking with the press on May 30, Trump was asked about Biden’s “aggressive” cancer and pulled no punches.
“[Biden’s] been a sort of moderate person over his lifetime,” Trump, 78, said. “Not a smart person, but a somewhat vicious person, I will say.”
“If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel so sorry, because he’s vicious,” the president continued. “What he did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt — he hurt a lot of people, Biden, so I really don’t feel sorry for him.”
Trump did not elaborate on the hurt that he feels Biden, 82, has caused, but over the past few years, Trump repeatedly and baselessly accused the Biden administration of using the Justice Department to engage in a “witch hunt” against him, despite that many of his criminal charges and his 34 felony convictions happened in lower courts outside of the federal government’s purview.
On the same day as Trump’s latest Oval Office press conference, Biden was in Delaware honoring his eldest son, Beau Biden, on the 10th anniversary of his death from aggressive brain cancer.
Speaking with families of military veterans at a Memorial Day service at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, the former president made his first public remarks since announcing his cancer diagnosis.
“This day is the 10th anniversary of the loss of my son, Beau, who spent a year in Iraq. And to be honest, it’s a hard day,” Biden told the crowd. “Being with all of you, quite frankly, makes things a little bit easier. It really does. So thank you for allowing me to grieve with you.”
Having signed up for the Delaware National Guard in 2003, Beau and his unit were activated to deploy to Iraq in 2008. He served a year in active duty and two full terms as Delaware’s attorney general, before dying of glioblastoma multiforme on May 30, 2015.
“Just like the legacy of all our fallen heroes lives on, they live on in us and they live on in the strength and freedom of our nation,” Biden said in his speech.
“So everyone who came here today to grieve with grief in your heart, please know: you’re not alone,” he said. “You’ll never be alone, and your loved one will never be forgotten.”
KHALID MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty
Then-Vice President Joe Biden talks with his son, U.S. Army Capt. Beau Biden, near Baghdad on July 4, 2009
Biden’s office announced that he had been diagnosed with “aggressive” stage 4 prostate cancer on May 18, sharing a statement on social media.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” the statement said.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement continued. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
In a post on X the following day, Biden shared a message about his diagnosis alongside a photo of himself with his wife, former first lady Dr. Jill Biden, and their cat Willow.
“Cancer touches us all,’ Biden wrote. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 21, 2025
Though Trump initially reacted to news of Biden’s diagnosis by sending his “warmest and best wishes” to the Bidens in a statement and wishing for a “fast and successful recovery,” he turned to more targeted comments in the days that followed.
Prior to Friday’s press conference, Trump called his predecessor “scum” on social media and shared a post that referred to Biden as a “decrepit corpse.”
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On Memorial Day, Trump made an all-caps post on his Truth Social page aimed at the Biden administration, members of the judicial branch, and other “monsters who want our country to go to hell.”
“Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday, May 26.
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