Many mainstream media personalities have adopted a celebratory tone in recent days while providing updates related to former President Donald Trump’s indictment and subsequent arraignment.
Reporters have also attempted to elicit a response from the Biden administration, which appears to be engaging in a tight-lipped approach to the developing narrative.
On Friday, the day after a Manhattan grand jury’s decision, President Joe Biden declared: “I’m not going to talk about Trump’s indictment.”
Vice President Kamala Harris had a similar response when asked about the news during her ongoing tour of Africa.
“I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president,” she said.
Even without a statement on the record, however, Biden seemed to express his thoughts in response to a reporter’s question this week.
When asked whether he believes the charges against Trump are “politically divisive,” the president lets out a laugh that struck many viewers as derisive.
Joe Biden LAUGHS as he’s asked if the charges against Trump are “politically divisive.” pic.twitter.com/FkkGVs2A1D
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 4, 2023
Of course, recent polls show that a majority of Americans agree that the Trump indictment is rooted more in politics than the law.
The White House has faced some tough questions regarding its silence in response to news about the nearly three dozen criminal counts related to allegations that he falsified business documents in an attempt to “bury negative information” about himself prior to the 2016 election.
During Tuesday’s press conference, reporter Michael Shear of The New York Times asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why the administration has been silent on this story despite speaking out often about the investigation into those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, protest on Capitol Hill.
Jean-Pierre used the opportunity to rehash the administration’s claims that “it was something that needed to be spoken to when you see something like that, our democracy, literally our democracy under attack.”
Shear did not let her off the hook, though, noting that an indictment against a former president is unprecedented in American history and could also have implications for the future of the nation’s democracy.
Without addressing the crux of the reporter’s question, Jean-Pierre instead accused him of “lecturing” her and insisted that “Jan. 6 is just, was a different moment.”
