Donald Trump has claimed that Joe Biden’s demand for him to be jailed is proof of “election interference” by the president.
Trump hit out after Biden told Democratic Party supporters in New Hampshire: “We got to lock him up.”
Although the president quickly amended his remark to say he meant that Trump should be locked up “politically,” the GOP White House nominee jumped on the statement to insist it was “illegal.”
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Trump used the attack as evidence of his unsubstantiated claim that the president was behind the four criminal cases he faces.
“I’ve been telling you that it’s election interference. This is all it is. He said, ‘We got to lock him up.’ This is illegal,” the former president told a rally at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
“Biden is behind it all, believe it or not,” he continued. “And he proved that yesterday with his stupid statement, and people are outraged by it.”
Biden was speaking on Tuesday to supporters in Concord, New Hampshire, when he made the “lock him up” comment, quickly changing it to: “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
Trump’s campaign leaped on the apparent slip-up, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt saying: “Joe Biden just admitted the truth: He and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square. The Harris-Biden admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.”
Donald Trump Jr. posted Biden’s remarks online with the comment: “They’re not even hiding it. The lawfare against my dad was always about election interference.”
The president’s remark echoed calls in the 2016 election by Trump for his Democratic Party opponent Hillary Clinton to be “locked up” over her alleged use of a private email address while she was secretary of state.
Biden has tried to avoid commenting on Trump’s legal issues. However, after the ex–president was convicted on 34 felony charges earlier this year, Biden blasted his complaints that the legal system was corrupt, saying: “It’s reckless; it’s dangerous; it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict.”
There is no evidence that Biden had anything to do personally with the criminal prosecutions against Trump.
