US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he did not speak to US Attorney General Merrick Garland either before or after the US Department of Justice issued an indictment against Donald Trump for unlawful possession of government documents after his departure from the White House in 2021. .
‘I haven’t spoken to him (Garland) at all, and I won’t,’ Biden said, responding to a reporter’s question and clarifying that he intended to further distance himself from the investigation. of the Department of Justice on its policy. rival.
Biden was in North Carolina discussing his economic agenda and meeting with members of the military when Trump’s allegations became public.
Biden administration spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said earlier that Biden learned of the charges against his former rival at the same time as others and was not aware of them before. Dalton declined to comment further.
“He’s a president (Biden) who respects the rule of law,” Dalton told reporters aboard the presidential plane. “That’s why we don’t comment.”
U.S. Attorney General Garland, who last appeared in public with Biden on Tuesday, last year appointed special counsel Jack Smith, who is not politically named or affiliated with any political party, to investigate the Trump case.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakim Jeffreys urged former President Donald Trump’s supporters and critics to allow his case “to unfold peacefully before the courts.” courts”.
“No one is above the law, including Donald Trump. This indictment must now be implemented through the legal process, without any outside political or ideological interference,” Schumer and Jeffreys said in a joint statement. .
Trump’s main rivals for the Republican nomination in the upcoming 2024 election have denounced the Justice Department for filing charges against Trump for handling classified documents.
The filing of federal charges against a former president was the first time in American history.
Trump is now the clear favorite in the Republican race to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year.
However, his rivals for the Republican nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, instead of using the indictment against Trump to undermine his campaign, accused the US Department of Justice of political bias.
“Turning federal law enforcement into a (political) weapon is a deadly threat to a free society,” Ron DeSantis tweeted. “Over the years we have seen uneven application of the law based on political affiliation.”
Republicans argue, without any evidence, that Trump’s indictment is a politically motivated decision by the Biden administration.
The US Department of Justice, in turn, says all investigative decisions are made without regard to party politics.
The agency handed over the investigation last year to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed to maintain the independence of such a politically sensitive investigation.
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