ABC White House correspondent Mary Bruce reported that Biden campaign staff at the Wilmington headquarters cheered when news of former President Trump’s guilty verdict on all charges was broken to the nation on Thursday night.
“Our team heard cheers inside Biden headquarters in Wilmington when the verdict was read,” Bruce said on air shortly after a jury convicted Trump on 34 charges of falsifying business records, concluding a historic and unprecedented criminal trial.
Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign was quick to respond publicly to the unanimous guilty verdict, issuing a statement shortly after the verdict, asserting that “the threat that Mr. Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater.”
Trump found guilty on all charges in New York criminal trial
President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at Pullman Yard in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 9, 2024. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed that he could break the law for his own personal gain and face no punishment,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign.
But Tyler stressed, “Today’s verdict does not change the simple reality facing the American people: There remains only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office — the ballot box. With or without a conviction, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
“He has waged an increasingly frenzied campaign of revenge and retribution, vowing to be a dictator ‘from day one’ and calling for the ‘repeal’ of our nation’s Constitution in order to regain and retain power,” Tyler’s statement continued.
Biden camp reacts to Trump’s guilty verdict: ‘No one is above the law’
Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
“A second term for Trump would mean chaos, curtailing American freedoms and inciting political violence, and the American people will reject it this November,” he said.
Speaking to the cameras after the verdict, Trump called it “disgraceful,” accused the trial of being “rigged” and said that “the real verdict will be made by the American people on November 5th” ahead of his rematch with Biden in the presidential election.
Bruce reported that Biden himself has been “very careful in recent weeks not to comment on the trial,” but that her sources say “that will now change.”
“Obviously, these convictions are a political gift to the Democrats, a political gift to the president,” she continued. “He’s now fighting a convicted felon, but I’ve heard people say don’t think this is going to completely undermine his campaign messaging. This conviction is not going to be central to his messaging to the American people.”
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Bruce said Biden did not want to appear “overly celebratory” about the verdict to avoid spreading the word that this was a witch hunt concocted by President Biden.
President Trump has called the trial “rigged” and said the “real verdict will be given by the American people on November 5th.” (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
“He’s adamant that he has nothing to do with this, but what we expect the president to do is continue to argue that Donald Trump is unfit to be president and that even if he ends up in prison somehow, which is unlikely to happen before the election, ultimately voters should decide Donald Trump’s future,” she said. “So he’s going to argue that this untimely thing will be up for a vote.”
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
