Some Democrats are advising President Joe Biden to keep mum on President Donald Trump's legal troubles, reports the Hill.
The report comes hours after Trump was hit with three new federal criminal charges in addition to ones he already faced related to his classified documents probe.
"The best bet for the Biden administration is to play it by the book rather than craft a strategy to deal with the legal cases," Ivan Zapien, a former Democratic National Committee official, told the news outlet. "He should handle it the same way you would hug a porcupine — carefully."
Eddie Vale, a longtime campaign operative and Democratic strategist, said he thinks Biden "can still handle it the right way while also being able to make the political point."
"The correct move, and also the right political move, is for him to stay totally out of it, and let them do their job," he added.
"Trump was the one who was willing to try and use the government to go after his political enemies," he said. "Biden is the one who set things back to how they should operate."
Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, now faces 40 criminal counts in the case, first brought in early June by DOJ special counsel Jack Smith.
GOP operative Doug Heye also said Biden "should not say one word on this."
"The second he does; he politicizes the DOJ investigation. Learn from Trump's very public mistakes with DOJ and just say nothing."
Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist who has worked for progressive presidential campaigns, told the Hill if Trump loses, "a Republican can say Biden was quiet."
"I can see [South Carolina Sen. Tim] Scott or [Nikki] Haley or [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis making that point and it sticking," he said. "He can get hit for being mum in a time when we need leadership to say the hard things. It's a risk to take."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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