The Biden administration was mum Tuesday about the president’s reported plans to weigh in from the White House on whatever verdict is handed down in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged questions at the daily press briefing about a Politico report that Mr. Biden will formally address Mr. Trump’s hush money case from the White House when the verdict is delivered. The jury is likely to get the case on Wednesday.
“I am just not going to comment on that, I am not going to speak to an ongoing case, and to someone who is a candidate for 2024,” she said.
The idea among Mr. Biden’s advisers is to make it appear that, by delivering a statement from the White House, Mr. Biden’s commentary on the trial isn’t political and would draw a contrast with Mr. Trump, who has been stuck in a New York courtroom four days a week since mid-April.
Sources familiar with the White House’s plans told Politico that Mr. Biden has a game plan and that his statement on the verdict will be tailored to the jury’s decision.
If the former president is convicted, the Biden team will argue that Mr. Trump isn’t fit for office, and social media headlines could read “Convicted Felon Donald Trump.” There will be other attacks depending on whether Mr. Trump is acquitted or if there’s a hung jury.
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The Biden campaign, meanwhile, deployed actor Robert De Niro and a couple of former Jan. 6 Capitol police officers to Manhattan on Tuesday to highlight Mr. Trump’s legal troubles and warn he is not fit for office.
The ramped-up attack from the Biden campaign came as prosecutors and defense lawyers for Mr. Trump delivered their closing arguments in the history-making case. Judge Juan Merchan is expected to give his instructions to the jury on Wednesday.
Mr. Trump is the first current or former president to face criminal charges, and the Biden team hopes the case can bolster the incumbent’s re-election chances.
Mr. Trump is charged with fudging business records to try to hide hush money payments sent to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged extramarital affair out of the headlines, a story that could have harmed his prospects in the 2016 election.
A verdict in the hush money could come as early as this week.
The end of the trial has coincided with the beginning of a more aggressive Biden campaign, which is reeling from a constant stream of polling that suggests he is struggling to navigate choppy political waters five months out from the election.
SEE ALSO: Biden to address Trump’s hush money verdict from White House
Mr. Biden has touched on the subject of Mr. Trump’s legal troubles in a coy way, when Mr. Biden announced this month that he would be willing to participate in a presidential debate with the former president.
“I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Trump in the video posted on his personal X page. Wednesdays were the typical days off for the hush money trial.
Mr. De Niro slammed the former president, saying he will “destroy” the country and the world if he wins in November.
“This is the time to stop him, by voting him out once and for all,” Mr. De Niro said. “If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.