Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said that if he is elected president, he would not pardon President Trump from any possible charges he may face as the president wrestles with an impeachment inquiry focused on his dealings with Ukraine. 

Biden told Radio Iowa that he wouldn’t follow the example of former President Ford, who pardoned his predecessor, President Nixon, so Nixon would not be prosecuted for his role in the Watergate scandal. 

{mosads}“It wouldn’t unite the country,” Biden said. “You’d say: ‘Wait a minute. I get a parking ticket and I’ve got to pay it. This happens to me and I’ve got to go to jail. This guy does all these things that put us jeopardy and he gets off? I think this is of a different nature.”

“I think President Ford, God love him he’s a good guy, I knew him pretty well, I think if he had to do it over again he wouldn’t have done it … because he didn’t get reelected,” he added. 

House Democrats recently launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump after revelations that he encouraged Ukraine’s president to look into Biden in a July phone call. Trump has defended the phone call and said that Biden should be investigated for his dealings with Ukraine instead.

Trump has repeated unsubstantiated allegations that Biden acted corruptly in dealing with Ukraine in relation to his son Hunter Biden’s role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. 

Biden on Sunday said at a press conference that he would build on “the squeaky clean … environment” of the Obama White House, according to Radio Iowa. 

“No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they’re a cabinet, will, in fact, have any a business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or to a foreign country,” he said. 

Trump has denied wrongdoing and has not faced criminal charges. A Justice Department guidance says a sitting president can’t be indicted. Biden has also denied wrongdoing. 

Biden is a leading contender in the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential race. He will appear alongside 11 others in Tuesday’s primary debate.