BREAKING: Biden asked to respond to unprecedented indictment of top opponent, responds 'I have no comment'

President Joe Biden was asked on Friday his opinion on the felony indictment against his political rival, former President Donald Trump, who leads in the polls to unseat Biden in the 2024 presidential race. Trump's indictment is widely seen as a political prosecution of the leading rival to Democrat power.

"Do you think that the charges against Trump are politically motivated?" Fox News' Peter Doocy asked, standing with a media gaggle outside the White House.



"I have no comment on Trump," Biden said, before heading to the waiting Marine 1 helicopter.

Trump was indicted on Thursday by New York City DA Alvin Bragg's office on some 34 counts, though what the charges are has not been revealed. This is the first time a former president has been charged in a criminal case.

Bragg ran his campaign for DA, in part, on a platform to prosecute Trump, though there was no substantial case at the time, and he's worked to build that case over the past few years. Bragg's office has invetigated the Trump organization, scrutinizing Trump's business practices prior to his time in office.

In so doing, Bragg appears to believe he has uncovered plots of election interference. His claim is that alleged payouts to women with whom Trump may have had romantic interludes were falsley recorded in accounting legers. In the case of payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, it is alleged that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen made the payments, and that on the Trump organization's books, they were recorded as legal fees.

Many have said outright that Trump is facing a political prosecution, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet announced a run for president, despite wide speculation that he may do so.
 

"The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head," DeSantis said. "It is un-American."

"The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent. 

"Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda," the statement concluded.

In Trump’s statement released shortly after the indictment was revealed, the 2024 presidential candidate called the indictment "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history."

The statement later added, "The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable - indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference."

Trump blasted Bragg in his statement, saying he was "hand-picked and funded by George Soros," calling the district attorney a "disgrace."

"Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time," Trump added.