Here's when Biden's 'gloves would come off' in Trump legal cases: analysis
President Joe Biden has frustrated fellow Democrats and his own aides by remaining largely silent on Donald Trump's criminal cases, but that could change with one major development.
The president has ridiculed his Republican rival's tech company and taken shots at his record in office, but Biden so far has shied away from commenting on Trump's prosecutions to avoid politicizing the cases or giving credence to false claims that he's directing those prosecutions, wrote MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown.
"It’s doubtful Biden would leap from saying nothing to weighing in directly on Trump’s innocence or guilt," Brown wrote. "But Trump has falsely claimed for months that the charges he faces all stem from Biden’s orders, a serious case of projection given his own well-documented desire to place his thumb on the scale of justice from the White House. It’s clear that he would be eager to leap on the barest appearance of interference from Biden to have his lawyers try to delay the proceedings even further. And given the open legal questions in this case, the less that could prompt an appeals court to find issue with a guilty verdict, the better."
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Although many Democrats would like to see Biden address the cases directly to draw a contrast between himself and the presumptive Republican nominee, Brown wrote that it's wise for him to hold his fire until the quadruple-indicted ex-president potentially gets convicted.
"Patience is the best bet for the Biden camp," Brown wrote. "The trial is already moving more swiftly than some observers predicted, with jury selection potentially wrapping up by the end of the week. Polling has found that while multiple indictments haven’t hurt Trump much in the polls, a conviction might prompt a real shift among independents and even some Republicans."
"Even if the federal cases against Trump remain off-limits, the gloves would come off politically should Trump shift from 'the accused' to 'convicted felon,'" Brown added. "It wouldn’t hurt Biden’s team, though, to start drafting some hits on that front now — just in case."