Retiring President Biden stunned listeners Tuesday by calling for his predecessor Donald Trump to be jailed — 14 days before the presidential election in which Trump is the Republican nominee.
“If I said this 5 years ago, you’d lock me up: we gotta lock him up,” Biden, 81, said during a visit to a Democratic campaign office in New Hampshire.
After a four-second pause during which his audience enthusiastically applauded, Biden added: “politically lock him up — lock him out, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
The president and his aides typically refrain from commenting on the four pending criminal cases against Trump, who contends that a quartet of local and federal indictments last year were politically motivated to aid Biden’s then-re-election campaign.
Biden has tauntingly referenced Trump’s legal woes before, including saying last week, “I think he’s running to stay out of jail.”
Trump, 78, was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to conceal 2016 hush money payments. His sentencing in that case, which was brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, is scheduled for Nov. 26.
Trump faces pending federal and state charges in Georgia related to challenging his 2020 election defeat by Biden. And federal prosecutors are attempting to revive another case accusing Trump of mishandling classified records, which a judge dismissed in July.
If he wins, Trump’s new Justice Department leaders likely would seek to set aside the two federal cases.
Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, are in a close contest according to swing-state polling — with RealClearPolitics averages showing Trump marginally ahead across the board, but within survey margins of error.
Harris, 60, usually treads carefully when discussing whether Trump should be jailed — often telling supporters who chant “lock him up!” at her rallies that the court system will make that decision.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on Biden’s remarks, which quickly provoked outrage among Trump’s supporters.
This is a developing story. Check back for more information
