Trump fends off ‘convicted felon’ label at first presidential debate – Washington Examiner
In a presidential debate, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden engaged in a contentious exchange regarding Trump’s recent felony conviction in New York. Trump, the first former president convicted of a felony related to hush money payments, tried to shift focus by accusing Biden of targeting political opponents and alleged injustice in the legal system. Biden, in response, highlighted Trump’s conviction during the debate, calling him a “convicted felon.”
Biden criticized Trump further over his actions related to the January 6th Capitol riot, questioning his commitment to the Constitution. Trump countered by deflecting questions about the riot and his willingness to accept the 2024 election results. The debate marked a significant clash with each candidate focusing heavily on the legal controversies surrounding Trump, amid the broader context of their campaigns for the presidency.
Former President Donald Trump attempted to blunt President Joe Biden invoking the former president’s conviction in New York as the two sparred in their Thursday presidential debate.
Trump, who last month became the first former president to be convicted of a felony in his hush money trial, was also the first candidate to reference the four legal cases against him as he fights to win a second term in the Oval Office. Despite the Biden campaign using that conviction to campaign against his opponent in recent weeks, Biden waited until around 45 minutes into the debate to call him a “convicted felon.”
“The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at tonight,” Biden said to Trump.
Trump returned Biden’s comment by saying Biden’s “son is a convicted felon at a very high level,” citing his gun trial in Delaware, and warned Biden that he “could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he’s done.”
Earlier on, at around 20 minutes into the debate, Trump broached his own legal woes when he said the United States had become a “third world” country due to the “weaponization” of justice against him, accusing Biden of “going after political opponents.” The White House denies the claim.
Trump has voiced vehement outrage against a “two-tiered” justice system since his conviction by a Manhattan jury last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star in the final weeks of the 2016 election.
The former president was able to speak more freely about his legal woes Thursday night given that New York Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday lifted some of the restrictions against him. The revised gag order now allows him to criticize the trial witnesses and the jury, though the candidates did not dig very deep into the minutia of the recent criminal trial.
Trump, who also faces a federal indictment accusing him in part of rallying his supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to illegitimately overturn the 2020 election results, was asked by moderator Jake Tapper about the riot just before the first commercial break.
“As president, you swore an oath to, ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution. What do you say to voters who believe that you violated that oath through your actions and inaction on January 6th and worry that you’ll do it again?” Tapper asked.
Trump deflected the question, saying, “On January 6, we had a great border,” in reference to the immigration crisis.
Later on, Trump was asked twice whether he would commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, but he did not directly answer. When pressed a third time, Trump said he would accept the results if it was conducted “fairly.”
“No indictments, no political opponents stuff, because it’s the only way he thinks he can win,” Trump said.
The New York conviction did not bog down Trump in the context of the debate, in part because much of the conversation surrounded policy debates and international matters such as the war in Ukraine and Israel.
When asked how Trump’s “legal drama” and criminal cases would affect public impressions during the debate, national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss told the Washington Examiner it was difficult to assess “given how little they were mentioned.”
“None of the cases tied to what Trump did while president are anywhere close to going to trial yet, and his other cases were tied in to his pre-presidential conduct. You kind of have to assume the damage from that is baked in already,” Moss said.
On CNN, it is reported Democrats are thinking, “Biden’s performance was dismal… some of the conversations include should we go to the White House to ask the President to step aside.” pic.twitter.com/8gneaG5E2r
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) June 28, 2024
Post-debate commentators on CNN said the former president “lied too much.” Meanwhile, anchor John King hammered Biden over his poor “performance” throughout the night.
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“Biden’s performance was dismal… some of the conversations include should we go to the White House to ask the president to step aside,” he said of the initial reaction to the debate.
Jack Birle and Cami Mondeaux contributed to this report.
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