WASHINGTON — President Biden slammed the Supreme Court’s decision Monday to grant former President Donald Trump absolute immunity from prosecution for “official acts” during his presidency — saying voters “deserve” a speedier trial for his prospective election rival.
Biden, 81, spoke from the red-carpeted Cross Hall for about four minutes — reading closely from a pair of teleprompters before turning to leave as reporters peppered him with questions about his disastrous performance at Thursday’s CNN debate against Trump, 78.
“Mr. President, will you drop out of the race?” a reporter shouted as Biden turned away from his lectern.
“What makes you so confident you should be the president?” shouted another journalist at Biden — whose last-minute speech was widely understood to be a way to demonstrate his ability to lead as fellow Democrats called for him to step aside.
“The man who sent that mob to the US Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day and the American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election,” said Biden, who previously has sought to distance himself from Trump’s prosecutions, which the ex-president accuses his successor of orchestrating.
“The public has a right to know the answer about what happened on January 6 before they are asked to vote again this year,” Biden said.
“Now, because of today’s decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. It’s a terrible disservice to the people of this nation. So now the American people have to do what the court should have been willing to do, but will not. The American people have to render a judgment about Donald Trump’s behavior. The American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy on January 6 makes them unfit for public office in the highest office in the land.”
Biden said that under the new ruling meant that “there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.”
“This a fundamentally new principle and it’s a dangerous precedent because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law,” Biden said.
The president said that he agreed with a dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who raised the prospect of future presidents ordering political assassinations without consequence.
“I concur with Justice Sotomayor’s dissent today. Here’s what she said, she said, ‘in every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent’,” Biden said.
Sotomayor also wrote: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
The majority ruling Monday did not dismiss the criminal case against Trump for allegedly breaking the law while challenging the results of the 2020 election and sent the case back to lower federal courts to determine what acts count as official acts in connection to the charges.
“Like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity,” the majority holding drafted by Chief Justice John Roberts said.
“But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution vests in him sweeping powers and duties. Accounting for that reality—and ensuring that the President may exercise those powers forcefully, as the Framers anticipated he would—does not place him above the law; it preserves the basic structure of the Constitution from which that law derives.”
Trump is the first former president in US history to face trial — despite fervent calls for many of his predecessors plus Biden to face charges for a range of alleged crimes.
The ex-president, who leads Biden in most national and swing-state polls, was convicted May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan to conceal 2016 “hush money” payments. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced July 11 in that case.
Trump faces a pending federal criminal case in South Florida for allegedly mishandling classified records after leaving office in 2021 and pending state charges in Georgia for alleged election-related crimes — though it’s unclear when or if the cases will go to trial.
Earlier Monday, a Biden campaign official likened the high court’s ruling to giving the 78-year-old former president “the keys to a dictatorship.”
In its 6-3 decision Monday, the Supreme Court did not rule on whether Trump’s alleged effort to interfere in the 2020 presidential election falls into the category of an “official act,” leaving the question up to lower courts to decide.
A US district court and DC Circuit Court of Appeals had both previously rejected Trump’s absolute immunity arguments.
“BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” Trump declared on Truth Social after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Biden spent most of Monday out of view with his family at Camp David as he evaluated his post-debate future.
A CBS News poll found that 45% of Democrats want Biden to step aside and the New York Times editorial board on Friday called for the president to allow his party to pick another candidate.
