“I mean, I get all this information about other people’s pasts, and what they’ve done and not done. And you know, I’m just not going to go there. If we keep doing that — I mean, we should be debating what we do from here,” Biden told CNN in a Friday interview, referring to the crowded field of two dozen White House hopefuls.

In May, Biden, 76, promised not to attack his rivals, saying: “I will not speak ill of any of the Democratic candidates, I will not do it.”

Although Biden said he wouldn’t use the opposition research, he made the comments while being grilled on the scrutiny his past approach to race issues is receiving.