White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says President Joe Biden will not be weighing in on whether he believes former President Donald Trump should face criminal prosecution.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Psaki was asked how Biden believes Trump should be punished for allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Psaki began by noting that âthere was a process that worked its way through the Senate.â However, when asked if Biden would support a criminal prosecution, she said, âThat will be up to the Department of Justice to determine.â
âWeâre doing something new here, and thereâs going to be an independent Justice Department to determine what any path forward in any investigation would look like,â she added.
When asked if Trumpâs behavior would meet the bar for a criminal investigation, Psaki said, âI am not going to speculate on criminal prosecution from the White House podium. The president is committed to having an independent Justice Department that will make their own decisions about the path forward.â
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During the presidential campaign, Biden regularly accused Trump of trying to weaponize the Justice Department to hurt his political opponents while helping his political allies, as IJR reported.
âThis has been the most corrupt administration in modern American history. The Justice Department has turned into the presidentâs private law firm,â Biden told supporters in September.
He added that he would appoint an attorney general who âunderstood his oath of office ⌠that in fact could do and move on what the professionals in the department thought had to be pursued, without my interfering.â
He also vowed, âIâm not going to prosecute anybody. Iâm going to do what the Justice Department says should be done.â
He has personally said he believes a criminal prosecution of a former president would be âprobably not very ⌠good for democracyâ but that he would not intervene to stop it either.
âIf prove to be a criminal offense, then, in fact, that would be up to the attorney general to decide whether he or she wanted to proceed with it. I am not going to make that individual judgment,â he explained.
