President Joe Biden has a brief response when asked if he would be following the arraignment of former president Donald Trump.
Mr Biden is currently vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and was riding his bicycle when CNN asked him whether he would follow his predecessor’s arraignment.
“No,” the president said.
Mr Trump will appear in federal court in Washington DC to be formally arraigned on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
The now-thrice-indicted, twice-impeached former president faces four counts of violating three sections of the US criminal code for his and his team’s attempts to keep him in office even after he lost to President Joe Biden.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom Mr Biden nominated, named Jack Smith, the special counsel in charge of investigating Mr Trump. So far, Mr Smith has presented before two federal grand juries, which has led to two federal indictments for the former president.
Republicans have accused Mr Biden of weaponising the Department of Justice to persecute a potential political opponent, despite the fact that Mr Garland said he appointed a special counsel specifically because Mr Trump announced his candidacy and because Mr Biden is seeking re-election.
For his part, Mr Trump promised that he would exact revenge on Mr Biden.
“Look, it’s not my fault that my political opponent in the Democrat Party, Crooked Joe Biden, has told his Attorney General to charge the leading (by far!) Republican Nominee & former President of the United States, me, with as many crimes as can be concocted so that he is forced to spend large amounts of time & money to defend himself,” he said on Truth Social.
“The Dems don’t want to run against me or they would not be doing this unprecedented weaponization of ‘Justice,’” he continued. “BUT SOON, IN 2024, IT WILL BE OUR TURN. MAGA!”
-Alex Woodward, Oliver O’Connell and Andrew Feinberg contributed reporting
