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Biden blasts Trump for his convictions, saying he is now a bigger threat than he was in 2016.

By FATIMA HUSSEEN and WILL WEISSERT4 minutes 06/06/2024

Updated at 8:59 AM, June 4, 2024

GREENWICH (Conn.) (AP). President Joe Biden criticized his predecessor, and likely rival in the November election, Donald Trump for being convicted on 34 felony charges related to hush-money payments by a Manhattan jury. He said Monday night that this campaign had entered “uncharted territory.”

Biden, speaking at a Greenwich fundraiser, Connecticut, said that the former president wanted to “make you believe everything is rigged.” The truth couldn’t be further away.

Biden echoed comments that he made last week at the White House in response to the verdict. “It is reckless, dangerous, and downright irresponsible to claim it’s rigged because you don’t agree with the verdict.”

He said that the American justice system is a cornerstone of democracy, and “we shouldn’t allow anyone to destroy it.”

Trump, the Republican presumptive presidential nominee, has been convicted of all charges related to a 2016 scheme to pay porn actress Stormy Daniels who claimed that the two had sexual relations. Former president has slammed this verdict and blamed Biden, while trying to portray himself as a political victim in the eyes his supporters.

Biden, as he did the week before, noted that Trump’s case was not federal but rather a state one. It was heard by an identical jury nationwide, which was selected in the same manner, and included five weeks of testimony. He said that the verdict was unanimous, and Trump could appeal.

Biden, however, went further on Monday and accused Trump of equating elections with the justice system. He claimed that the former president “attacked both the judiciary system and the elections system as being rigged.”

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Biden stated that “Nothing is more dangerous to the country and more dangerous to American democracy”

The president did not mention the federal firearm case that began on Monday in Delaware against his son Hunter. Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, took advantage of this, saying that Biden’s remarks were a sign that the president would “do anything to distract” from Hunter’s case.

Biden said, “Despite Trump’s convictions, and his son’s case, it is becoming increasingly clear that the threat Trump poses during his second term will be greater than in his first.”

Biden said, “This is not the same Trump who was elected in 2016” “He’s worse.”

Biden attended a fundraiser that was hosted by Richard Plepler (former CEO of HBO) and featured Shonda Rhimes who is the creator of such TV hits as “Bridgerton,” Scandal, and “Grey’s Anatomy”. Biden then referred to a tv ad produced by his campaign, featuring actor Robert De Niro narrating, stating and asserting Trump “snapped”, after losing to Biden, in 2020.

Biden suggested that the former president had become “unhinged,” and was behind the mob of supporters who overran the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

Biden stated that the former president “can’t accept losing, it’s literally making him crazy.” Biden said that the former President “wants the Constitution to be terminated” and “says there will bloodbath if he is defeated.”

Biden asked, “What kind man is he?”