Biden Says He Did Not Tell DOJ to Charge Trump

Joe Biden (L) and Donald Trump. Illustration by The Epoch Times/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Thursday said that he did not pressure the Department of Justice (DOJ) to bring charges against former President Donald Trump as a special prosecutor is reportedly deciding to indict the former president.

On Thursday evening, Trump stated that he was informed that he was summoned to appear at a Miami courthouse on June 13, saying that special counsel Jack Smith will indict him following an investigation into whether he mishandled classified documents that culminated in an FBI raid targeting his Mar-a-Lago residence in August. Trump said that he is “an innocent man” and described the case against him as “election interference.”

Hours before that, Biden spoke to reporters alongside British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and was asked if Americans should have trust in the DOJ in the midst of the Trump probe.

“You’ll notice I have never once, not one single time, suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do, relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge. I’m honest,” Biden said in response.

Meanwhile, the DOJ has not unsealed the charges that are being brought against the former president. His attorneys, however, confirmed on Thursday night that he was charged with seven counts relating to the Espionage Act.

“It does have some language in it that suggests what the seven charges would be. Not 100 percent clear that all of those are separate charges, but they basically break out from an Espionage Act charge,” Trump lawyer Jim Trusty told CNN, describing the espionage charge as “ludicrous.” There are also multiple “obstruction-based-type charges and then false statement charges,” the attorney said.

Trusty further said that Trump received a summons to court via email, while his team has not received a copy of the indictment so far. He said that Trump will appear in court on Tuesday but gave no further information in the CNN interview.

About two months ago, the former president was indicted on 34 charges of allegedly falsifying business records in connection to payments that he made during the 2016 election. In a court appearance in Manhattan, Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Via social media and elsewhere, Trump has said that there are currently two standards of justice in the United States and said that Biden kept classified records for decades. He’s also frequently chided Biden for his family’s overseas business deals in China and Ukraine.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets supporters as he arrives at an event at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 4, 2023. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,” Trump also wrote.

Trump, on his Truth Social app, called it “a DARK DAY for the United States of America.” In a video post, he said, “I’m innocent and we will prove that very, very soundly and hopefully very quickly.” Within 20 minutes of breaking the news, his 2024 presidential campaign sent out a fundraising email telling his followers he’d been indicted and asking for financial support.

In a letter dated May 23, Trump’s attorneys had requested a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “to discuss the ongoing injustice” they perceived in the special counsel’s investigations of Trump.

Other Details

Last year, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland picked Jack Smith to lead investigations into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate, as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the Jan. 6, 2021, breach at the U.S. Capitol.

Many of Trump’s challengers for the GOP nomination jumped to his defense Thursday night after news of the indictment broke. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s top rival for the 2024 nomination, accused the Justice Department of political bias in charging the former president.

“The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. “We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.”

He questioned why the Justice Department had been “so zealous” in bringing charges against Trump and “so passive” about going after former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton or Biden’s son Hunter.

Vivek Ramaswamy said the federal case was part of “an affront to every citizen.” Reiterating his comments that he would pardon Trump, Ramaswamy called it “hypocritical for the DOJ to selectively prosecute Trump but not” Biden over his own classified documents case.

Democrats celebrated the indictment as a demonstration that no individual, regardless of their position, is exempt from the law. “The former twice-impeached president is now twice-indicted,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) wrote.

The Associated Press and Caden Pearson contributed to this report.