Biden condemns Trump for labelling hush money verdict as rigged

In his first statement since a New York jury found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records, US President Joe Biden made a indirect swipe at the former president's attacks on the justice system.


"It's reckless, it's dangerous, it's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict," Biden said, speaking to reporters at the White House.


Joe Biden's comments came hours after Trump blamed him for his legal woes in remarks to the press and supporters, saying, "All this is all done by Joe Biden and his people. This is done by Washington. No one has ever seen anything like this."

Criticising both the prosecutors and the judge overseeing the case, Trump said, "This is a scam, this is a rigged trial. It shouldn't have been in that venue. We shouldn't have had that judge."

In his remarks on the verdict Friday, the US President said, "The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed," and commended the 12 jurors in the cases for carefully deliberating and reaching a unanimous verdict.

"Donald Trump was given every chance to protect himself," Biden said, adding that the case was "heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 Americans, 12 people like you."


Notably, Donald Trump has repetitively railed against the New York criminal case, the judge overseeing it, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges against him, as well as some of the witnesses who ended up testifying at the trial.

Biden and Trump have not met face-to-face so far this election cycle, but the two will share a stage for the first general election debate in late June in Atlanta.