Former President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that his 37-count federal indictment was brought as a “distraction” from bribery allegations against President Joe Biden.
Trump made the comments during an appearance on the debut episode of longtime ally Roger Stone’s new AM radio program on Sunday, where the two lambasted the criminal charges the former president faces as “a disgrace.” The 45th president was indicted Thursday in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. Smith said Friday that the charges were related to “felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.”
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The charges came the same day that House Republicans secured access to a FBI document alleging Biden’s involvement in a “criminal bribery scheme.” GOP lawmakers said the the allegations relate to Biden’s efforts as vice president to pressure the Ukrainian government to fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, and that the FBI form indicated the alleged bribes were aimed at shaking off a corruption investigation.
Trump has maintained his innocence and blasted the charges as politically motivated. Biden has also denied any wrongdoing. Still, the Trump indictment news has overshadowed most coverage of the Biden developments.
“It was done for political reasons, but it was also done, I guess, to cover up the kind of a massive crime that’s now being revealed by the Republicans in the House,” Trump said of his indictment on Sunday. “It’s a distraction. The indictment is a disgrace… And it was put out at a time when they found horrible things about the Biden family.”
“It’s incredible when you look at what happened, when you look at the kind of money that flows into the Biden family, and to Joe Biden, by the way,” he continued. “And so they wanted to do a distraction.”
Addressing the Hunter Biden situation further, Trump predicted that the first son would escape his current legal woes.
“They’ll probably come up with a jaywalking charge on Hunter in the not too distant future, you know, a very small charge, so they can say well, ‘It’s fair,'” Trump told Stone. “But there’s a very unfair situation. We’re living in a very, very corrupt country.”
The comments echo remarks he gave on Saturday at a campaign event.
“It’s no coincidence they indicted me the very same day it was revealed that the FBI had explosive evidence that Joe Biden took a $5 billion illegal bribe from Ukraine,” Trump said from the North Carolina Republican Party Convention. “I haven’t read anything about it. This would have been the biggest story in history.”
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The former president also used the wide-ranging interview to take aim at former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has defended the classified documents charges against his ex-boss.
“Virtually everybody other than a lowlife like Bill Barr, who, as you know, I terminated because he was gutless,” Trump said. “He wouldn’t do what you’re supposed to do. But everybody says this is a disgraceful indictment.”
