The New York Times’ (NYT) Michael Shear grilled White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday as to why Biden “repeatedly” spoke about Jan. 6 but wouldn’t comment on Trump’s indictment.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts Tuesday after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict him Thursday. Biden was asked Friday whether he thought the charges were “politically motivated,” with Biden saying he had “no comment on Trump” before walking away from reporters.
Shear noted that Biden “repeatedly” spoke about the Capitol riot while there were “more than 500 active legal cases going on” but would not provide comment about Trump.
“What’s the difference between that and this?” Shear asked. (RELATED: Biden Reveals If He Thinks There Will Be ‘Unrest’ At Trump Arraignment)
“January 6th was a devastating day, if you guys weren’t there, some of your colleagues were on Capitol Hill. We had law enforcement, police officers who were attacked, who died, and what we saw on that day was an attack on our democracy, it was a devastating, devastating day in our history” Jean-Pierre said. “It was a moment for this president to have spoken to.”
“It was something that needed to be spoken to…our democracy under attack and so the president will never shy away from our democracy,” she continued. “When it comes to these types of cases, these criminal cases, we’re just not gonna comment.”
“I was asking why you’re not willing to comment from there,” Shear asked, with Jean-Pierre saying the Trump case is ongoing.
“There were more than 500 cases involving Americans whose freedoms were at risk,” Shear said.
Reporter: “Biden commented on J6 repeatedly while 500+ cases were ongoing; why not comment on Trump’s indictment?”
Karine: “J6 was historic.”
Reporter: “So is this.”
Karine: “J6 was different tho.”
Reporter: “How so?”
Karine: “PEOPLE DIED DEFENDING THE CAPITOL!”
🤡🤡🤡🤡 pic.twitter.com/wvmWQzPAPG
— Meara (@MillennialOther) April 4, 2023
“People died [on Jan. 6],” Jean-Pierre said before Shear responded back that he “doesn’t need a lecture.”
“There are millions of people out there watching today, you called Jan. 6 historic, it was absolutely historic, none of us had ever seen that before, nobody has seen this before either,” Shear added. “That means something, that has some effect…on American democracy.”
“Why isn’t there a similar kind of assessment about how the world is watching us now?” Shear asked.
“January 6th just was a different moment, it was something that was just incredibly devastating, people died on that day and were harmed. It was just something that we saw visually, that we reacted to,” Jean-Pierre said.