Retiree called 'damn liar' by Biden says he just wanted ex-VP to 'answer the hard stuff' about Ukraine, other topics

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Joe Biden's heated exchange with Iowa voter

Joe Biden didn't like an Iowa voter questioning him about getting Hunter Biden a job in Ukraine, so he challenged him to pushups. Ford O'Connell weighs in.

The retired Iowa farmer who confronted Joe Biden over his son's business activities in Ukraine on Thursday -- prompting Biden to call him a "damn liar" at a campaign event -- said he meant no disrespect to the former vice president, he just wanted some answers.

"I'm not trying to cause him problems," the 83-year-old, identified by the New York Post as Marine Corps veteran Merle Gorman, told reporters, according to a video posted by CBS News. "I'm just trying to bring out all of this bulls--- that he's been telling here today is all softball stuff. He don't wanna answer the hard stuff."

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"He's been in Congress all of his life and all of the problems like high drug prices and all of that ... Where in the hell has he been for the last 50 years? And he's going to change it all now? Bulls---."

At one point Gorman started to suggest that Biden should "drop out of the race" and support another candidate -- before he was cut off by a heckler, according to a video posted by the Washington Examiner.

"Why don't you just get out of here?" the unidentified heckler said, leaning in to speak into Gorman's ear as Gorman sat in a chair surrounded by reporters. But Gorman didn't seem amused by the heckler.

"Stick it up your a--, fella," Gorman said as the heckler walked away.

"Come here," Gorman continued.

When the heckler came back over to him, Gorman asked if he wanted him thrown out. The man replied that he didn't want to be sued if he could remove Gorman.

After a short discussion, Gorman closed the back-and-forth by telling the man the United States is "a free country."

"I can say what I want," he said, smiling.

According to the Post, Gorman told reporters he is a supporter of all the Democrats in the primary field except for Biden, and is not a fan of President Trump.

“I would love any of them [as president] except Joe Biden. He's been there all his life... I don’t have any ill feelings toward Joe Biden," he said, according to the paper.

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Gorman added that he didn't intend to torpedo anyone's campaign, but that voters should "know what kind of fellow they're electing."

“I love the country, I want good people in there and not the kind of crap we got now," he said.

Of Biden's apparent challenge that he and Gorman do push-ups to determine their relative strength, the retired farmer remarked he had a 105-year-old friend who could do so.

"[I]t doesn't mean anything about how smart you are," he said, according to the Post.

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In the initial exchange during a question-and-answer period, Gorman told Biden: "You sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company where he had no experience. ... In order to get access for the president … you’re selling access to the president just like he was."

Biden fired back: “You’re a damn liar, man. That’s not true and no one has ever said that.”

Gorman is a registered independent, according to the Examiner.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Allie Raffa contributed to this report.