The White House has been less keen to get its hands dirty after the former occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was convicted on all 34 counts in his hush money case.
White House Counsel’s Office spokesperson, said in a curt statement, “We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment,”
The president was at his home in Delaware on what was already a hugely significant day for him — nine years to the day after his son Beau’s death from brain cancer in 2015, aged 46.
Trump’s historic conviction — which would have been a knockout blow in any other election year — is undoubtedly a brighter spot for Biden after weeks of polling showing him neck and neck nationally with Trump who leads the Democrat narrowly in most of the key swing states.
Biden has previously made occasional jokes about Trump’s legal plight, including mocking him for falling asleep at the trial and saying he’s been too “busy” to be on the campaign trail.
But he’s largely stayed muted on the issue, and the question is now whether he keeps a presidential distance above the fray or opts for a more aggressive approach.
Biden will be hoping that the verdict can sway even a small number of independents or wavering voters who could be crucial in one of the closest White House races in living memory.
“It helps Biden for this reason: I’m Joe Biden and I’m not a convicted felon,” said Democratic strategist Rachel Bitecofer.
Biden has already launched a social media fundraising drive off the back of the verdict.
Trump’s conviction “speaks for itself,” David Karol, who teaches government and politics at the University of Maryland, told AFP.
“I don’t think this is the kind of thing that Biden needs to talk about to bring it to voters’ attention. It’s a big deal, it’s historic.”
Biden would also be keen to “avoid the impression that he is directing the prosecution of his opponent,” he added.
Karol said however that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Biden found it hard to resist bringing it up in his first election debate with Trump, which is scheduled for June 27, two weeks before the Republican is sentenced.
David Axelrod, a former top aide to President Barack Obama, meanwhile warned Biden against being “tempted to flood the zone about the conviction.”
“While Trump wallows in his own troubles, the right play for Biden may be to lean even more into the day-to-day concerns of people. The contrast would be powerful,” Axelrod said on X.
Biden may also be reluctant to comment given his own family situation.
With surviving son Hunter due in court next week on gun charges “he may want to avoid talking about court cases at all,” said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University.
Trump to appeal against historic conviction
Trump said this morning he will appeal the verdict. Speaking from Trump Tower, the same place where he announced his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election and a site frequently mentioned during the trial, he said: “We’re going to be appealing this scam.”
In the speech, which lasted about 40 minutes ,he also blasted the judge, star witness Michael Cohen, District Attorney Alvin Bragg and President Joe Biden, while saying he had wanted to testify in the trial and bringing up concerns about crime in New York. Our correspondent Anthony Zurcher said the remarks appeared to be “more of a venting session” and were reminiscent of his political rallies.
Later in the day, Biden responded to Trump’s speech as part of a nationally televised address from the White House about the Israel-Hamas war. He called for respecting the American justice system and rejected Trump’s allegation that the case was “rigged”, saying: “It’s reckless. It’s dangerous. It’s irresponsible.”
Trump’s presidential campaign said it raised a staggering $34.8 million in six hours following the verdict.
Stock prices for Trump’s media company, which operates Truth Social, plunged when stock markets opened in the morning and then bounced around for most of the day. By late afternoon they were down more than 5%.
Advance Democracy, a non-profit research group, said it had detected a high volume of violent online rhetoric, including calls to hang Justice Merchan, but had not uncovered any concrete plans.
And finally, as Republican anger grew over the verdict, eight conservative senators announced they would no longer cooperate with the White House, pledging to block increases in non-security funding and Biden political and judicial appointees.
Culled from BBC