Former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele raged at a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial Thursday for their “boneheaded” advice to President Joe Biden regarding the hush money trial.
The WSJ editorial argued Biden’s plan to discuss the trial would be “another lousy White House politician decision” that would benefit former President Donald Trump and highlight the said “partisan nature of the prosecution.”
“Mr. Biden is better advised to say nothing. Even a platitude — a statement in the event of a conviction that the will of the jury should be respected — will sound like an expression of satisfaction by a President whose allies convicted a political opponent. Mr. Biden’s son Hunter is slated to go on trial on felony charges in early June. Will he comment on that proceeding, too?” the editorial reads.
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Steele shredded the advice, which was also published in Politico, saying the president ought to speak publicly about his political opponent’s criminal charges and potential conviction.
“What the hell is Politico talking about? What the hell are you people talking about? Okay, two things. One, for all the future criminal defendants out there, please, start behaving like Donald Trump because I want to see how this system, media, legal, and political handles it,” Steele said on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports.” “Because he’s setting the new standard. So when you’re doing the perp walk, have your cell phone and get your tweets in because that’s one part of this.” (RELATED: Former Trump Attorney, Fox News Host Spar Over Whether Biden Is Involved In Bragg Trial)
“The other part of this is exactly the point you [Jansing] just raised. Now the press is telling Joe Biden ‘Oh, you can’t say anything if he’s convicted.’ Really? He’s a convicted felon running for president, you mean to tell me I’m gonna be quiet if I’m the opposing campaign about that? Of course not! So that is just boneheaded advice from some people who supposedly know politics, who clearly don’t if that’s their solution to have the president basically say ‘You know what? I’m gonna ignore everything that’s just happened to Donald Trump as a candidate for office and pretend like it’s any other normal political cycle. It is not. It won’t be, period, even if he’s acquitted.”
Michael Steele rips WSJ editorial for telling Biden not to talk about Trump trial pic.twitter.com/ZiVAUblg9P
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 30, 2024
Steele accused the media of ignoring the “level of importance” regarding the trial and treating it as entertainment for the American people.
The jury completed their second day of deliberations Thursday regarding the 34-count indictment put forth by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused Trump of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged $130,000 hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels to not disclose an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. The records were allegedly falsified through a $420,000 reimbursement deal to his former attorney Michael Cohen, who made out the payment.
Cohen admitted to stealing $60,000 from the Trump Organization by lying to its chief financial adviser Allen Weisselberg about the amount of money needed to pay a tech company.
