Story update June 14, 2023: Former President Donald Trump is facing 37 federal felony charges, related to the mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. These charges are separate from the first indictment from the state of New York. This story has been updated with the latest development.
On April 4, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump’s arraignment came roughly a week after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the former president.
On June 13, Trump became the first former president to face a judge on federal charges as he pleaded not guilty in a Miami courtroom to dozens of felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents and refusing government demands to give them back.
After his first arraignment, a video with more than 4 million views says: “And there it is - he said the quiet part out loud. Biden all but confirmed that his team is coordinating these Trump indictments to ‘stop Trump from taking power again.’”
THE QUESTION
Did Biden say his administration is using the indictment to ensure Trump does not become the next president?
THE SOURCES
- InVid and RevEye, footage forensics tools
- NBC News video from November 9, 2022
- C-SPAN footage from November 9, 2022
- A November 9, 2022, report from The Hill
THE ANSWER
No, Biden did not say his administration is using the indictment to ensure Trump does not become the next president. The video is old and being shared out of context.
WHAT WE FOUND
The video clip is real, but it is being shared out of context.
Biden made those comments on Nov. 9, 2022 during a press conference when he was answering questions ahead of his trip to Asia for the G-20 Summit. Reporters asked him about conversations he’d had with other world leaders about Trump’s plan to run for president in 2024.
VERIFY found the original video using InVid, a video forensics tool, and used RevEye to reverse image search individual frames from the clip.
NBC News was one news outlet that posted Biden’s full press conference on Nov. 9, 2022. The portion where Biden makes the statement shown in the viral post starts about 25 minutes into the press conference.
A reporter asks Biden: “The entire genesis of that conversation was tied to your predecessor [Trump], who is about to launch another campaign so how do you reassure them [other world leaders at the G20 Summit], if that is the reason for their questioning, that the former president will not return, that his political movement which is still very strong uh we'll now once again take power in the United States?”
Biden then says: “We’ll just have to demonstrate that he will not take power … if he does run, making sure he – under legitimate efforts of our Constitution – does not become the next president again.”
The Hill, a news outlet that covers politics and Washington D.C., also reported on Biden’s comments in November. C-SPAN also carried coverage of the press conference.
At the time, Trump had not yet announced he was running for president again -- Trump announced that on Nov. 16. He also had not yet been indicted in New York.
As of April 4, the White House has not made a public statement regarding Trump’s indictment.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that “our focus right now is on the American people,” and was noncommittal when asked whether Biden was following the news.
“He will catch part of the news when he has a moment to catch up on the news of the day,” she said. “But this is not a focus for him today.”
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