Published 14:26 IST, January 10th 2021
US: Democrats pressurise Joe Biden to 'investigate' Donald Trump
The Dems appealed that as President-elect Biden takes office on Jan 20, he must ask Dept. of Justice to press criminal charges against President Trump.
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Democrats are pressurising the US president-elect Joe Biden to investigate and prosecute outgoing President Donald Trump, his allies and enablers for inciting the mob to indulge in criminal conduct as they breached law and order by storming into the Capitol building. It comes after the House prepares to pursue impeachment charges against Trump next week. The Dems appealed, that as the President-elect Biden takes office on Jan. 20, he must ask the Department of Justice to press criminal charges against President Trump, according to several media reports. "I was not on the investigate-and-prosecute train before yesterday," Kathleen Sullivan, said a former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. She further added that undermining the foundations of democracy and the Constitution is a crime that cannot be ignored.
In a virtual interview with the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee answered that question very carefully and significantly. Biden said that the sitting president investigating the outgoing administration comes with huge legal and political implications. He told reporters that Presidency wasn’t about “settling scores” and any such action might further divide the country. Separately, in a televised interview with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Biden said, "the Justice Department is not the president's private law firm. The attorney general is not the president's private lawyer. I will not interfere with the Justice Department's judgment of whether or not they think they should pursue the prosecution of anyone that they think has violated the law.”
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Biden says: 'I won't do it'
Biden told NPR, that it was a "very, very unusual thing" for the current US administration to pursue criminal charges against the outgoing President. 'Probably not very, how can I say it? good for democracy', the President-elect said in a live-streamed interview. He added that his administration needed to “look forward”. He added that no one [including president Trump] was above the law despite holding a position of power. Earlier, Sen. Kamala Harris of California told The NPR Politics Podcast that if her party was elected, her administration's Department of Justice would bring criminal charges against the sitting president, adding that “they would have no choice.” Meanwhile, Biden said that if the US President violated the law, therefore, “go on and prosecute him — I will not do that.”
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14:26 IST, January 10th 2021