White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appears to slip up while answering questions from reporters and accidentally suggested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) coordinated with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his case against President Donald Trump.
However, Democrat President Jo Biden’s press secretary apparently realized the mistake and she immediately walked it back.
In an apparent slip, Karine Jean-Pierre said that Bragg’s “hush money” trial was tied to the Biden DOJ’s “timeline.”
The remark caused quite a stir.
At a press briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked whether she considers Bragg’s prosecution a “threat to democracy.”
Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence noted Biden’s constant warnings about alleged threats to democracy on the campaign trail.
Lawrence then observed that Bragg – one of Biden’s fellow Democrats – waited until an election year to pursue a case against Biden’s chief opponent.
“How is it not a threat to democracy when you have a prosecutor from the same political party as the president waiting seven years … to prosecute in an election year a former president who is now an opponent?” Lawrence asked.
“That’s a question for the Department of Justice on their timeline and how this moves,” Jean-Pierre replied.
“I can’t answer that for you here.”
Later, Jean-Pierre claimed she misspoke.
However, the Trump campaign says Jean-Pierre’s comment wasn’t an error.
“This wasn’t a misspeak as the White House claims, this was another example of KJP not knowing what the hell is going on, just like her boss, Crooked Joe,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
As evidence of coordination, President Trump and his defenders have cited the fact that Biden’s third-highest-ranking DOJ official, Matthew Colangelo, left the department to work on Bragg’s case.
In his sparse comments about the verdict, Biden has stressed that the case was brought by a state prosecutor.
However, Biden has begun to aggressively exploit the verdict.
Biden has rolled out a $50 million attack ad painting Trump as a “convicted felon*” ahead of their first debate on June 27.
At first, Biden tiptoed around the issue of Trump’s conviction.
However, his campaign decided to change course after looking at internal polling data that suggested the conviction would damage Trump, Politico reported.
Ironically, the Democrat president launched his attack line just days before his son, Hunter Biden, was convicted of federal gun charges.
While Democrats strenuously insist Trump’s trial was impartial, a recent poll found that the vast majority of Americans think Bragg pursued the case for political reasons.
Democrats are liable to squeeze the verdict for all it is worth.
The three other Trump prosecutions are now unlikely to proceed to trial before the election.
