President Biden, who has been urged by Democrats to confront former President Donald J. Trump directly about Mr. Trump’s criminal conviction in his hush money case in New York, heeded those calls Monday evening during a major fundraiser in Connecticut for his re-election campaign and for the party.
Mr Biden railed against his rival at a reception in Greenwich, telling a group of supporters that included the governor of Connecticut and his two sitting US senators that the campaign had entered “uncharted territory” when a jury on Thursday indicted Mr Trump found guilty on all 34 counts of the crimes he faced.
He said Mr. Trump had cemented the distinction of being the first former president and convicted felon to seek the Oval Office.
“But as troubling as that is, even more damaging is the all-out attack that Donald Trump is waging on the American justice system,” Mr. Biden said, according to a pool reporter who covered the event.
Mr. Biden called Mr. Trump “unsettled” and said he was undermining another democratic institution with his viciousness after the verdict.
“It’s reckless and dangerous for someone to say this is rigged just because they don’t like the result,” he said.
A spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
Mr. Biden’s bluster at the reception, hosted by former HBO executive Richard Plepler, marked a notable shift in his approach to the conviction of Mr. Trump by a jury in Manhattan.
When asked about the ruling by reporters at the White House on Friday, Mr. Biden grinned and walked away silently after making remarks about the war in Gaza. His reluctance to comment on the issue was related to his general strategy of not personally addressing Mr. Trump about his legal problems.
Mr. Biden’s comments at the fundraiser echoed portions of a televised statement at the White House on Friday before he outlined his administration’s latest efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas. Nevertheless, the Democrats had called on him to take more aggressive action.
Mr. Trump’s status as a felon wasn’t the only line of attack for Mr. Biden during the fundraiser.
Mr. Biden brought up the time when Mr. Trump suggested during a coronavirus briefing at the White House four years ago that bleach could be used to treat the disease — medical advice that was immediately debunked.
“He must have injected it into his brain,” Mr. Biden said, according to a pool report.
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2024-06-04 02:31:57
www.nytimes.com
