WASHINGTON — President Biden’s re-election campaign touted his predecessor Donald Trump’s conviction Thursday as evidence that “no one is above the law” — while trying to raise money off what the presumptive Republican nominee charged was a prosecution to aid the incumbent.
“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement emailed shortly after Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on 34 criminal counts of concealing business records to hide evidence of hush money payments.
“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain,” Tyler said.
“But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.”
A tweet from Biden’s X account appealed for fundraising support for his campaign, which is lagging behind Trump’s in most national and swing-state polls.
“There’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box. Donate to our campaign today,” the message from Biden’s account said.
The 81-year-old president spent much of Thursday at his Rehoboth Beach, Del. vacation home with his family, and was not expected to comment publicly about the unprecedented verdict.
“We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment,” White House counsel’s office spokesman Ian Sams said in a separate statement.
Accompanying Biden to Rehoboth Thursday morning was first son Hunter Biden, 54, who faces a federal trial on gun charges beginning June 3 in Delaware and another federal trial beginning Sept. 5 in Los Angeles for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 on the proceeds of overseas business relationships in which he involved his father.
Hunter Biden walked away from a probation-only plea deal last July after making courtroom demands for broad immunity for past conduct, including alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate dad Joe.
The case against Trump, brought by elected Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last April, was widely seen as the weakest of four indictments charging the former president with a total of 88 counts.
The 77-year-old also faces indictments in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents, a federal case in DC for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and a state election case in Georgia.
However, it is unclear when or if those other cases will ever go to trial.
Despite widespread skepticism of Bragg’s case, jurors swiftly convicted Trump after deliberating for approximately 11 hours over two days.
Trump gave a brief but defiant speech outside of the courtroom, calling the proceedings a “rigged, disgraceful trial.
“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people and they know what happened and everyone knows what happened here,” he added. “This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent.”
Trump and his allies have repeatedly noted the case was brought by a Democratic DA; prosecuted by attorney Michael Colangelo, the former No. 3 official in the Biden Justice Department; and presided over by Judge Juan Merchan, whose daughter Loren has long worked in Democratic politics — including for Manhattan and Brooklyn Rep. Dan Goldman, who was lead counsel in the first impeachment case against the 45th president back in 2019.
Supporters of the former president also noted that Bragg’s case rested heavily on the testimony of Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, himself a convicted felon and admitted perjurer.