President Joe Biden avoids questions on ex-president Trump’s arrest
The world was watching the New York arraignment of former President Donald Trump. But there was one question that the White House press staff wanted to ask: What did Joe Biden have to say?
The simple answer was “No comment”.
While Donald Trump was appearing in court approximately 238 miles (383km to the north), Vice President Joe Biden was sitting in a White House dining area under a portrait of Abraham Lincoln flanked on either side by his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The President summoned the council to discuss the dangers and potentialities of artificial intelligence.
The meeting ended with a barrage of shouted questions from reporters about Mr. Trump – which went ignored and unanswered as the media was ushered out of the room.
The strategy was explained in detail earlier on Tuesday by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who joked with reporters that she “loved” questions regarding Mr. Trump being asked, “in different ways”.
“So first, I have to say this. It’s an ongoing case, so we’re just not going to comment on the case specifically itself,” she said. “The President is going to focus on the American people like he does every day.”
“This is not something that is a focus for him,” she added.
Despite her remarks, journalists repeatedly tried to elicit comments. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked whether the lack of comment suggested that the White House does not “think anything happening in New York today is one of the top issues facing the country”.
“For better or worse, all of everybody in the country is talking about at this exact moment, while we’re in here, is Trump,” he said.
Ms. Jean-Pierre responded by saying Americans should “feel reassured” that the White House won’t comment on an ongoing case.
The only acknowledgment that President Biden was following the case came when Ms. Jean-Pierre said that “obviously, he will catch part of the news”, which she added had been “playing out on many of the networks here daily for hours and hours.”
The White House has been largely silent on the issue since news of the indictment first broke last week. Ms. Jean-Pierre previously said that Mr. Biden was not aware of the charges ahead of time.
Even before the indictment, Mr. Biden has been careful to avoid direct criticism of Mr. Trump, whether commenting on the “Make America Great Again” movement or on Trump-era policies.
“They’ve been smart to stay out of it,” Democratic strategist Lis Smith told Reuters of the White House strategy. “In 2020, Joe Biden benefited from voters’ exhaustion with the chaos of the Trump administration.”
“The split screen of President Biden focused on doing his job well versus Trump and the Republican Party in chaos will only help him,” she added.
President Biden, on the other hand, features heavily in Trump’s campaign messages and e-mails to supporters.
A fundraising e-mail sent on Tuesday morning, for example, included a caveat that Americans “doing poorly due to Biden’s policies” should “take care of yourself” and ignore the donation request.
