President Joe Biden flashed a toothy grin when asked by a reporter whether he considered former President Donald Trump a political prisoner of his own making.
“Donald Trump has called himself a political prisoner and is directly blaming you. What are your thoughts on that?” a reporter asked Biden, 81, as he finished remarks on Friday defending Trump’s conviction.
The reporter asked the question as Biden was leaving after finishing his speech, but after the question was posed, Biden stopped, looked at the reporters and smiled.
“Do you think a guilty verdict would affect your campaign?” a reporter asked, to which Biden continued to laugh, before slowly walking away with his mouth open and no response.
clock:
🚨Reporter: “Mr. President, can you tell us why Donald Trump is calling himself a political prisoner and directly criticizing you? What is your reaction to that?”
Biden: *evil grin* pic.twitter.com/rhHh18vCWM
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 31, 2024
Trump has promised to appeal what he called “this fraud” and vowed to keep fighting, but Biden defended the jury’s verdict.
“This reaffirms the American principle that no one is above the law,” Biden said. “Donald Trump has been given ample opportunity to defend himself.”
“The jury heard five weeks’ worth of evidence. Five weeks. After careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict,” Biden said slowly. “They found Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts.”
“It’s reckless. It’s dangerous. It’s irresponsible for anyone to say there was fraud,” Biden continued.
WATCH – Joe Biden defends Donald Trump’s conviction, calling questioning the verdict “dangerous”
White House
But President Trump, in light of a gag order issued by Judge Juan Marchan, on Friday revealed as much of the facts and corruption as he could. His allies have also suggested the entire investigation by prosecutors was a set-up.
RELATED — Donald Trump speaks out after being convicted on all 34 charges: “It’s not over yet”
C-SPAN
“The No. 3 man at the Department of Justice is leaving the Department of Justice, rushing to New York to work with Alvin Bragg and becoming the lead prosecutor in this campaign,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a Trump ally, explained in an appearance on TV on Friday. Breitbart News DailyThey argued that the sentence was likely predetermined.
“And Joe Biden said he’s going to speak after the verdict is in. Do you think he would have done that if he thought Donald Trump would be acquitted or there would be a split verdict? Of course not. This has been unfair from the start. It’s been a witch hunt,” Blackburn said, noting that Democrats still haven’t been able to accept that Trump unexpectedly defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, undermining their plans.
“Donald Trump thwarted their plans,” she said, adding that “government cannot be used as a weapon against individuals.”
