Joe Biden says he would consider picking a Republican running mate and asked the 'well-known ones' to 'step up'

• Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would consider choosing a Republican as his running mate for a "unity ticket."
• Biden said that while he couldn't think of a specific Republican off the top of his head, he stated that there are "some really decent Republicans" but the more "well-known" members of the GOP need to "step up."
• Biden has heavily emphasized his long record reaching across the aisle to secure concrete legislative accomplishments throughout his 36 years in the US Senate.
• Biden's comments also come after Trump himself and congressional Republicans spent months falsely accusing Biden of engaging in corruption by incorrectly claiming he called for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son Hunter.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would consider choosing a Republican as his running mate for a "unity ticket," according to reporters from CBS News and The New York Times.

While campaigning in New Hampshire, Biden said that while he couldn't think of a specific Republican off the top of his head, there are "some really decent Republicans" but the more "well-known" members of the GOP need to "step up" against President Donald Trump.

Biden has heavily emphasized his long record reaching across the aisle to secure concrete legislative accomplishments throughout his 36 years in the US Senate to pitch himself as a consensus-builder who can break through the gridlock to get things done.

In 2018, Biden even gave a paid speech praising a House Republican in a competitive race, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, as "one of the finest guys I've ever worked with."

But Biden has been accused by his Democratic rivals of being naïve in publicly asserting that the GOP will go back to business as usual after Trump is out of office. In both May and November of this year, Biden claimed that the GOP will have "an epiphany" after Trump is gone and start working with Democrats again.

Biden's comments also come after Trump himself and congressional Republicans have spent months falsely accusing Biden of engaging in corruption by incorrectly claiming he called for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son Hunter.

On December 18, the House impeached Trump for abusing his office by initiating a series of events that culminated in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky where, days after placing a hold on a $400 million military aid package, Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter.

Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian oil-and-gas company, from 2014 to 2019. Trump and his allies have, without evidence, accused Biden of using his power as vice president to urge Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma in order to protect Hunter.

Despite Trump and the GOP's allegations, both US and Ukrainian government officials have confirmed there's no evidence that the Bidens did anything improper.

During the impeachment proceedings, no congressional Republicans stood up for Biden or voted in favor of the impeachment articles.

While there are a few vocal anti-Trump Republicans, including Trump's primary challengers former Rep. Joe Walsh and former Gov. Bill Weld, virtually every prominent GOP politician and member of Congress is in firm lockstep with Trump.

Read more:

Joe Biden walks back his remarks about defying a congressional subpoena, but adds he is 'not going to pretend' that it isn't a Republican-led stunt

Joe Biden told a protestor at his Texas campaign rally that he's 'just like Donald Trump' for asking about corruption in Ukraine

Biden saying he'd only serve one term would be an Election Day risk with little reward, new Insider poll shows

Congressional Republicans are repeating many baseless conspiracy theories in Trump's impeachment inquiry. Here's why they're all bogus.

Biden adds: "There are some really decent Republicans that are out there still, but here's the problem right now of the well-known ones: They've got to step up."

- Thomas Kaplan (@thomaskaplan) December 30, 2019