Trump accuses Biden of ‘plagiarizing’ him over 'buy American' push

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Trump accuses Biden of ‘plagiarism’

President Donald Trump has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of ‘plagiarism’ over his ‘buy America’ proposals.

President Trump on Friday took a swipe at presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden over his “buy American” proposals unveiled Thursday, saying Biden “plagiarized” from him — and hinting at past accusations of plagiarism that have dogged the former vice president.

“He plagiarized from me, but he can never pull it off,” Trump said. “He likes plagiarizing.”

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Biden had unveiled his “Build Back Better” plan in Pennsylvania on Thursday, a populist plan that seeks to create 5 million new jobs and is the first of four economic proposals Biden is expected to roll out over the coming weeks.

It included a $400 billion investment by the federal government to purchase American products such as cement, concrete, steel and other materials to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. On top of that, it includes a $300 billion investment in research for new technologies, such as electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and 5G.

Biden’s plan also calls for new tax breaks and credits for small manufacturers – including those run by minorities and women – and would levy penalties on companies who take federal money and then move their investments overseas.

“When the federal government spends taxpayers’ money, we should use it to buy American products and support American jobs,” Biden said.

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It appeared to acknowledge the political success the president has enjoyed pushing his “America First” agenda, which rests on bringing jobs back to America from abroad -- including using tariffs on imports.

But the Biden move reportedly left the Trump administration flatfooted. Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein reported that some at the White House were “fuming” as Biden pushed the “Buy America” plan before the Trump team was able to push out its own “Buy America” proposals.

Trump’s jab about Biden “plagiarizing” appears to be a reference to a controversy that took down Biden’s 1988 presidential bid — when it was discovered he had plagiarized from a speech by then-British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.

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The Biden campaign fired back at Trump's comments.

"The truth is, Trump promised voters he'd stand with American workers, but spent his entire time in office siding with corporate boardrooms and his big money donors over middle class families -- creating giant new financial rewards for outsourcing jobs and trying to take healthcare away from millions,” said Biden rapid response director Andrew Bates.

Bates continued: “His presidency has thrown American manufacturing into a recession, killed tens of millions of jobs, and sent the strong economy he inherited from the Obama-Biden Administration into a full-on meltdown. Joe Biden's vision for reinvigorating American industry, building our economy back better, and restoring the middle class is the antithesis of Donald Trump's failures."

Meanwhile the Washington Free Beacon noted that the “Build Back Better” slogan was also used by the United Nations in April.

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On Friday, Trump argued that the Biden proposals were actually “radical left” disguised in Trumpian language.

“It's a plan that is very radical left. But he said the right things because he's copying what I've done, but the difference is he can’t do it,” he said. “And he knows he's not doing that — can't be the same, because he's raising taxes way too much. He's raising everybody's taxes.”

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“He's also putting tremendous amounts of regulations back on. And those two things are two primary reasons that I created the greatest economy we've ever had. And now we're creating it again,” he said.

Trump made the remarks before flying to Florida, where he will receive a briefing from the U.S. Southern Command, take part in a roundtable on Venezuela, and attend a private fundraiser.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.