Biden says 'poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids'

Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden told a crowd in Iowa Thursday that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids," an awkward moment that came during a conversation about discrimination faced by low income students.

“We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” he said during a town hall in Des Moines.

He paused, then quickly clarified, “wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids.”

“No, I really mean it, but think how we think about it,” he said.

President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign quickly pounced, tweeting out video of the speech.

“Yikes...have fun mitigating that one,” Andrew Clark, the campaign’s rapid response director, tweeted.

The Biden campaign didn’t immediately respond to questions from NBC News about his remarks.

The awkward course-correction came just days after Biden excoriated Trump for having a “toxic tongue” that he said has inflamed the nation’s divisions, saying that he lacked the moral authority to lead America.