Biden says Trump should be locked up ‘politically’

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CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) -President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Republican Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and should be locked up “politically,” as he exhorted Democrats at a New Hampshire campaign office to win the Nov. 5 U.S. election.

“We got to lock him up,” Biden said to applause at a Democratic campaign office in Concord, New Hampshire. “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.” 

Trump, the Republican candidate and former president, wants to disregard the safeguards of the U.S. Constitution, Biden said. “Our democracy is at stake” if Trump beats the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, he said.

When he ran for president in 2016, Trump repeatedly presided over rallies in which crowds chanted “lock her up,” referring to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He did not discourage them from that chant.

This year, during rallies for Harris, her crowds sometimes chant “lock him up,” referring to Trump, who has been convicted of 34 felony counts in New York related to covering up hush money paid to a porn star. He also faces charges of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Harris, however, shuts down those chants, saying the Justice Department will handle that issue while she seeks to beat the former president at the ballot box.

Trump’s campaign late Tuesday called on Harris to condemn Biden’s remark.

“Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Stephen Coates)