President Biden is “not focused” on former President Trump’s surrender and arraignment, but he may catch “parts of it” on television, the White House said Tuesday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that Biden was focused on “the American people,” not Trump’s legal troubles.
“Can you give us any sense of how President Biden is taking all of this in?” a reporter asked.
“We’re not going to comment specifically on the case itself, but, look, the president is going to focus on the American people, like he does every day,” Jean-Pierre responded. “This is not something that is a focus for him. He is going to focus on things like making sure that we continue to lower prices for the American people.”
Former President Trump surrendered to authorities in New York City Tuesday, but the White House says President Biden is focused on other things. (Thomas P. Costello/USA Today Network)
“Of course, this is playing out on many of the networks here on a daily basis for hours and hours. So, obviously, he will catch part of the news when he has a moment to catch up on the news of the day,” Jean-Pierre continued. “But this is not his focus for today.”
President Biden is “not focused” on former President Trump’s surrender and arraignment in New York City this week, the White House says. (Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre added that she has not spoken with Biden about Trump’s indictment recently.
Biden said Monday he was not concerned about any unrest surrounding Trump’s arraignment, however, saying he had faith that the New York Police Department could handle the situation.
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Both the NYPD and the U.S. Capitol Police took extra measures in recent days to ensure security after Trump called on his supporters to “protest” and “take our nation back” in the event of his arrest.
NYPD officers guarded the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse as former President Trump was arraigned Tuesday following his indictment by a grand jury. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
But law enforcement officials in both Washington and New York say there are no credible threats of violence. There are many people in Manhattan protesting both for and against Trump, however, and some of their interactions have gotten physical.
Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s years-long investigation into his alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The indictment is expected to be publicly released after the arraignment hearing.
Some pro- and anti-Trump protesters got physical in New York City, and throngs of reporters recorded the interaction. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s lawyers said over the weekend that they expected to file a motion to dismiss all charges from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation. And Trump said Tuesday that his case should be moved to nearby Staten Island, New York, which has a larger demographic of Republican voters compared to Manhattan.
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Trump and his supporters have criticized the charges as “highly partisan.”
Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
