President Joe Biden, who has stayed quiet on presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial, is planning on giving a public address after the jury reaches a verdict, POLITICO reported.
The outlet cited “four people familiar with internal deliberations” in the Biden administration who said the president will likely address the hush-money verdict from the White House, not at a campaign event, to avoid the appearance of Biden making a political statement on the trial’s outcome. Trump’s hush-money trial is nearing its end after weeks of arguments and testimonies as closing arguments are slated for Tuesday.
“This is an important moment and the president first and foremost needs to stress that the American system works, even and especially in an election year,” said one of the four people familiar with internal discussions who was granted anonymity. “And in a measured way, it becomes part of his argument against Trump too: Do Americans really want this?”
The former president is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied the charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The leftist district attorney charged Trump years after federal prosecutors ended their investigation into Trump’s alleged hush-money payments without bringing any charges in 2019.
POLITICO reported that if the jury finds Trump guilty, Biden’s team will argue that the former president is not suited to be elected to another term. Biden is still planning on addressing the verdict even if the jury acquits his political rival, according to the people familiar with the discussions, but they added that those plans could change.
If Trump makes it past the Manhattan criminal trial without being convicted, Biden’s team is reportedly preparing for a barrage of outrage from Trump, his supporters, and other potential voters who have argued that the legal system is being used to target the presidential candidate to keep him off the campaign trail.
Early on Saturday morning, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to blast Biden and Bragg, arguing that the Manhattan criminal trial is “election interference.”
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“The City of New York’s D.A., Alvin Bragg, is trying to prosecute a Federal case, which cannot be done, and where there is NO CRIME, that has been turned down by everyone, including the Federal Elections Commission, SDNY, the D.A.’s Office, and Bragg himself – Until I announced that I was running for President,” Trump wrote. “This case could have been brought 7 years ago, but wasn’t. It is another Crooked Joe Biden Election Interference Hoax!”