President Joe Biden didn’t wait long to use the adjective “convicted felon” when referring to Donald Trump, telling donors at an event on Monday that the former president is a larger “threat” now than he was four years ago, The New York Post reported.
The Monday fundraising event at the home of former HBO CEO Richard Plepler in Greenwich, Connecticut, is the first time Biden has publicly called Trump a “convicted felon” after a Manhattan jury handed down a guilty verdict in Trump’s hush-money trial last Thursday.
“For the first time in American history, a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” the president said, according to the Post.
“But as disturbing as that is, more damaging is the all-out assault Donald Trump is making on the American system of justice,” Biden continued, adding, “Something snapped in him when he lost in 2020,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost and it is literally driving him crazy. He is clearly unhinged. Now after his criminal convictions, it’s clear he’s worried about preserving his freedoms.”
High-ranking Connecticut Democrats also attended the Biden fundraiser, including Gov. Ned Lamont, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Chris Murphy, Rep. Jim Himes, and former Sen. Chris Dodd, the Post reported.
Biden called Trump a “convicted felon” again at an event in White Plains, New York, on Monday and drew a direct connection from the guilty verdict to the campaign trail.
“Folks — the campaign entered unchartered territory last week. For the first time in American history, a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” Biden said. “But as disturbing as that is, more damaging is the all-out assault Donald Trump is making on the American system of justice.”
While the Biden campaign quickly used Trump’s guilty verdict as political fodder, Biden and his advisers have reportedly deliberated on how to address the unprecedented criminal conviction of a former president and the leading presidential candidate for 2024. Days before the jury handed down its verdict, Biden and his team reportedly planned to give an address following the verdict at the White House, not at a campaign event, to avoid the appearance of Biden making a political statement on the trial’s outcome.
Biden made his first comments on the guilty verdict last week, 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.”
Trump has blasted Biden, Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Judge Juan Merchan throughout the trial, arguing that he is being politically targeted. On Friday, Trump wrote that he is “the political prisoner of a failing nation,” adding, “BUT I WILL SOON BE FREE, NOVEMBER 5TH, AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Biden was slammed on Friday for his reaction to a question about Trump referring to himself as a political prisoner. The president stopped, looked back at the reporter, and smiled without answering the question.
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