US President, Joe Biden has described the Supreme Court’s immunity decision as ‘dangerous’ and said it would embolden former President Donald Trump if the Republican is reelected.
Biden made the statement at the White House’s Cross Hall on Monday night.
He warned that the conservative-leaning court ‘fundamentally changed’ a bedrock principle of the nation and pushed the American people to reject Trump in November at the ballot box.
‘This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America,’ Biden said.
‘Today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do,’ he continued. ‘This is a fundamentally new principle and it’s a dangerous precedent.’
‘The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone,’ he warned.
The Court’s 6-3 ruling practically insured that Trump wouldn’t face another trial before the November election after being convicted in New York on 34 counts of business fraud related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
The sentencing for that case comes next week.
The decision grants Trump partial criminal immunity on actions he took as president while attempting to overturn the 2020 result – including on January 6, putting in peril Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case.
Additionally, the election interference case in Georgia has been paused, as has the federal classified documents case based in Florida, also being handled by Smith.
Biden called the Supreme Court’s decision a continued ‘attack’ on ‘wide range of long established legal principles,’ pointing to the reversal of Roe v. Wade and controversial decisions on civil and voting rights.
‘Only four years ago, my predecessor sent a violent mob to the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. We all saw it with our own eyes. We sat there and watched it happen that day,’ Biden said.
‘Attack on the police. The ransacking of the capitol. The mob hunting down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Gallows erected to hang the vice president, Mike Pence,’ he continued. ‘I think it’s fair to say it was one of the darkest days in the history of America.’
Biden pointed to Trump’s federal election interference court case.
‘The American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election,’ he argued. ‘Now because of today’s decision that is highly, highly unlikely.’
‘It’s a terrible disservice for the people of this nation,’ he said. ‘So now, now the American people will have to do what the courts should have been willing to do, but will not – the American people will 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 him unfit for public office – the highest office in the land. The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable,’ Biden said.
‘Perhaps, most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the president – the presidency to Donald Trump, now knowing he’ll be more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it,’ the Democrat warned.
The 81-year-old president pointed to the example set by the nation’s first president – George Washington.
‘He believed power was limited, not absolute. And that power always resides with the people, always,’ Biden said. ‘Now we’re 200 years later, today’s Supreme Court decision, once again it will depend on the character of the men and women who hold that presidency that are going to define the limits of the power of the presidency, because the law will no longer do it.’
‘I know I will respect the limits of the presidential powers I have for three and a half years,’ Biden said. ‘But any president including Donald Trump will now be free to ignore the law.’
Biden said he agreed with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor. ‘In every use of official power, the president is now a king above law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent,’ he said, quoting Sotomayor.
‘So should the American people dissent,’ Biden said. ‘I dissent.’
The decision marks a big win for Trump, who’s already been taking a victory lap after Thursday night’s CNN debate.
