Former President Donald Trump was criticized after claiming that it was "illegal" for President Joe Biden to say that we need to "politically lock" Trump up.
Biden made the remark during a visit to a Democratic campaign office in Concord, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, saying that “we gotta lock him [Trump] up.”
Biden was criticizing Trump's plans to reshape the country's bureaucracy and emphasizing the threat Trump poses to the nation's democratic institutions after he
"He [Trump] is talking about doing away with the entire Department of Education. He means it, this is not a joke. This is also the guy who wants to replace every civil servant, every single one."
"He thinks he has the right under the Supreme Court ruling on immunity to be able, if need be, to eliminate, actually physically eliminate, shoot and kill anyone who is a threat to him. I know this sounds bizarre; it sounds like if I said this five years ago you'd lock me up."
“We've got to lock him up. Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
You can hear what Biden said in the video below.
As president, Biden has maintained a distance from the Justice Department and its investigations into the former president, emphasizing that his administration has not acted with political motives. However, his comments angered Trump, who claimed they supported his unfounded assertion that the charges he faces were orchestrated by Biden himself.
Trump portrayed Biden's remarks as evidence of "election interference" and suggested Biden later backtracked to avoid potential legal consequences. There is no evidence that Biden or his staff had any involvement in the four indictments against Trump.
Nevertheless, he said:
He said about me yesterday, 'We've got to lock him up.' ... He's not legally allowed to say... he can't say that but I've been telling you that it's election interference."
"This is all it is. He said ‘we got to lock him up.’ This is illegal.”
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
While Trump vocally decries what he sees as politically motivated prosecutions, he has consistently promoted the concept of going after his own political rivals. Throughout his third bid for the presidency, Trump has frequently floated the idea of seeking vengeance against Biden and his supporters.
Back in 2016, Trump famously rallied his supporters to chant “lock her up” in reference to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Once in office, he repeatedly pressed the Justice Department to pursue investigations against individuals he viewed as adversaries—a move that subjected several of them to federal scrutiny.
He was swiftly called out.
Trump's hypocritical statements came after he suggested the possibility of using the military to address what he referred to as "the enemy from within," which he described as "radical left lunatics" who, in his mind, are more dangerous to our country than any foreign threats.
He has only doubled down on his revenge threats, describing his perceived enemies as "Marxists, communists, and fascists" and affirming his desire that the Justice Department go after his rivals.
Of course, that's all projection coming from Trump—but that doesn't make his fantasies any less dangerous.
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