Associated Press
President Joe Biden noted pointedly Friday that Donald Trump was found guilty by a unanimous jury, and he slammed the former President’s attempts to cast the case against him as politically motivated as “reckless,” “dangerous” and “irresponsible.”
Reacting a day after the conclusion of Trump’s criminal trial in New York, when Biden’s opponent in November’s election was convicted on all 34 felony charges in a hush money case stemming from the 2016 election, Biden said the outcome meant that the “American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed.”
He noted that the jury heard five weeks of evidence before reaching its verdict, and that Trump can appeal the decision just like any other American convicted of a crime. The President also criticized Trump as attempting to undermine important principles by suggesting that the case was politically steered by Biden and his administration.
“It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible, for anyone to say this is rigged just because they don’t like the verdict,” Biden said. He added, “The justice system should be respected and we should never allow anyone to tear it down.”
Biden was at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, marking the anniversary of the 2015 death of his grown son, Beau, from brain cancer when the jury reached its verdicts on Thursday, and he offered no personal reaction to the trial at the time. But he returned to Washington on Friday for an event at the White House with the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs, and spoke to reporters about the situation in the Middle East before answering questions about Trump’s case.
Biden didn’t answer subsequent, shouted questions about what he thought of Trump blaming him directly or if Trump’s name should remain on the ballot.
“I’m willing to do whatever I have to do to save our country and save our Constitution. I don’t mind,” Trump said.
Biden for months had carefully avoided involvement in Trump’s legal drama, looking to keep from feeding into his Republican rival’s claims that his criminal woes were the result of politically motivated prosecutions. But as the New York trial concluded, Biden’s campaign became far more vocal about it.
His campaign had released a series of innuendo-laced statements that alluded to the trial to attack Trump’s policy positions, and then Biden himself quipped that he heard Trump was “free on Wednesdays” — the trial’s scheduled day off — in a video statement when he agreed to debate Trump head-to-head.
With closing arguments underway on Tuesday, Biden’s campaign even showed up outside the Manhattan courthouse with actor Robert De Niro and a pair of former police officers who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, in what it said was an effort to refocus the presidential race on the former President’s role in the riot. That decision came as the campaign felt its message about the stakes of the election was struggling to break through the intense focus on the trial.
Shortly after the verdict Thursday, Biden’s reelection campaign sought to keep the focus on the choice confronting voters in November and the impact of a second Trump presidency.
“A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence — and the American people will reject it this November,” Biden spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
13 comments
My Take
May 31, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Putin and Kim are rooting for Trump.
just sayin
May 31, 2024 at 3:34 pm
Says the guy who questions the Supreme Court every time they don’t go his way.
I mean, Trump’s guilty, but please be consistent.
Michael K
May 31, 2024 at 5:09 pm
There is a difference between airing a disagreement with a decision and showing total disrespect for the institution, and the rule of law, and spewing lies. Biden has disagreements (Roe), but has not made vicious and slanderous comments about specific justices.
Tom
June 1, 2024 at 8:21 am
Imagine if it were hunter biden that was found guilty? The judge would get a medal of freedom for doing a good job. Hypocrisy at its best.
Ron Ogden
May 31, 2024 at 5:09 pm
Sorry, but that went out the door with Hillary. Everyone knows that the Democrats depend on judges to make their cherished laws because they can’t get the people’s elected representatives to do it. Now you have Democrats trying to force Supreme Court Justices they don’t like to recuse themselves from certain cases. Blind justice was at the core of America. But Democrats destroyed it in the name of progressive politics.
rick whitaker
May 31, 2024 at 6:41 pm
RON OGDEN, i guess your right, a blind justice would have to have his wife do things for him, and then he would also have a good excuse why it is disrespectfully upside down, he is blind. you are purposely delusional.
Paul Passarelli
May 31, 2024 at 7:23 pm
Questioning the ‘official’ findings of government is only dangerous to tyrants. Allowing ‘official’ lies to stand in for the truth is irresponsible.
It was a Kangaroo Court.
Michael K
May 31, 2024 at 9:43 pm
So, you are saying that Trump did not have sex with a porn star after his wife gave birth to their son, did not try to kill stories of this and other his sexual affairs, or OK the payments of hush money to kill the stories, or was in violation of NY state laws – even though the evidence overwhelmingly revealed his guilt as charged?
You might look up the definition of “kangaroo court” as this trial was completely within the bounds of the laws in the state of New York, where Trump lived up until he lost re-election.
Andrew Finn
May 31, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Will it be “dangerous and irresponsible” for him to question Hunter’s verdict when it arrives ??
Dick Whitaker
June 1, 2024 at 12:56 am
Joe Biden read the teleprompter today. Did he know what he was reading?
Tom
June 1, 2024 at 2:00 pm
And trump didn’t which is why nobody understands his ranting other than he hates everybody and he’s going to get them all back if he gets back into the WH. What do teleprompters have to do with anything?
Bobby Jindal
June 1, 2024 at 9:20 am
Of course the AP and Florida Politics spotlights this…it wasn’t dangerous when Biden used the State of the Union to bash the Supreme Court. It wasn’t dangerous when Merrick Garland enabled harassment and attempted murder against the Justices when a DRAFT opinion leaked. It’s only dangerous when a democrat judge is in question…
Elvis Pitts "The Big Voice On The Right" American
June 1, 2024 at 2:07 pm
Good Afternoon America,
“Did You Hear That”?, said the Sage Elvis Pitts American, “Someone with the Dook 4 Brains 08IDEN Sad-Ministration” just entered on Zombie 8iden’s TelePrompter that 93.76% of all American voters are “Dangerous & Irresponsable”.
And “The Zombie Dook Joe” actually read it outloud.
What an embarrasing bunch of Dooks there are in the “08IDEN Sad-Ministration”.
Thank you America,
Elvis [FKA EARL] Pitts American
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