President Joe Biden made his first comments following the conviction of Donald Trump on 34 charges of falsifying company records in New York, and he subtly attacked the attacks on the legal system made by the former president.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden declared, “It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
The president’s words were hours after Trump lambasted him in speeches to supporters and the media, claiming that Biden and his team were responsible for all of his legal problems. Washington is in charge of this. Nobody has ever witnessed something similar to this.
Trump blasted the trial’s judge and prosecutors, saying, “This is a scam, this is a rigged trial. It shouldn’t have been in that venue. We shouldn’t have had that judge.”
“The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,” Biden said in his remarks following the verdict on Friday. He also praised the 12 jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence and ability to make a unanimous decision.
“Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself,” Biden stated, adding that the case was “heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 Americans, 12 people like you.”
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who filed the charges against Trump, the judge supervising the criminal case in New York, and some of the witnesses who ultimately testified during the trial have all been targets of Trump’s frequent criticism.
Judge Juan Merchan partially ordered Trump to be silent regarding prospective jurors, certain prosecutors, and “known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation” in March as a result of the verbal insults.
Trump attacked Merchan over the injunction on several occasions, saying the court had “taken away my constitutional right.”
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Later, Merchan declared that Trump had repeatedly broken the gag order, fining him a total of $10,000 and threatening to put him in jail.
This election season, Biden and Trump have not yet had a face-to-face meeting; however, in late June, in Atlanta, they will share a stage for the first general election debate.
It’s probable that during their discussion, the two contenders would be questioned with the former president’s legal issues. Trump incorrectly claimed that Biden was “weaponizing” the Justice Department, and he has frequently blamed the former president for his legal issues.
Trump is still charged in three other cases: two federal cases pertaining to his efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election and his storage of classified documents, and one Georgian case in which he is charged with conspiring with over a dozen other people to rig the 2020 election results.
