Donald Trump has branded President Joe Biden’s comments that the GOP candidate should be locked up “illegal” and “election interference” – seemingly forgetting his own 2016 catchphrase about his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
During a visit to the Democratic party’s New Hampshire headquarters on Tuesday, the president told campaign workers that “we gotta lock him up” about Trump. He quickly backtracked, adding the caveat: “politically.”
Trump condemned Biden’s remarks during campaign rally in Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday night, saying it “should cause cases.”
“He can’t say that,” the former president said. “I’ve been telling you that it’s election interference.”
He added: “This is all it is. He said: ‘We got to lock him up.’ This is illegal and should cause cases.”
Trump’s pushback on Biden comes despite the former president’s history of calling for his political opponents to be jailed.
In October 2016, Trump called for his Democratic presidential rival Clinton to be locked up on three separate occasions, just weeks out from the election. In September 2020, Trump then claimed that the former secretary of state’s lawyers should “go to jail with her”.
Despite his comments being well-documented, Trump falsely told Fox News in June that he’d never called for Clinton to be imprisoned.
In total, he has called for at least 27 people to be indicted or jailed since he first hit the campaign trail more than eight years ago, according to ABC News.
Earlier this month, Trump also set off alarm bells when he suggested sending the National Guard and military after the “enemies within” on Election Day.
Trump is actually facing possible jail time after being convicted on all 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial in May – making him the first current or former president ever convicted of a crime.
He is also facing two other criminal trials, one state and one federal, related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“As I’ve said, these lawsuits are being run by the Department of Justice, the FBI,” Trump told rallygoers on Wednesday night.
“Biden is behind it all, believe it or not, and he proved that yesterday with his stupid statement.”
Trump has repeatedly, baselessly claimed that his criminal charges are the work of a Democratic-led conspiracy against him. However, two of his criminal cases are state cases – in New York and Georgia – meaning the Justice Department is not involved. The federal election interference case, meanwhile, is being overseen by an independently appointed special counsel and Trump was charged following a grand jury vote.
Despite Trump’s complaints, a current Biden Administration official appeared unfazed by Biden’s remarks.
“For better or worse, no one is listening to him anymore and his words have little power and less reach,” the staffer allegedly texted Axios reporter Alex Thompson.
