BREAKING: Biden reacts to SCOTUS immunity ruling, uses address to nation to campaign against Trump with J6 rhetoric

On Monday evening Joe Biden condemned the Supreme Court decision on in Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claim. After saying that the ruling was like making the US president like a king, he took no questions. He scheduled the press briefing shortly before it aired and spoke for about five minutes. He did not take questions, and he spoke as softly as he did during last week's disastrous debate.

Biden told reporters, “No one is above the law, not even the President of the United States. With today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed." He added that the decision “undermines the rule of law” in the US.  

He agreed with Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent on the opinion, quoting, “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.” 

Biden claimed that the court’s decision was part of a “course of attack in recent years on a wide range of long-established legal principles.” 

The incumbent president said that Trump “sent a violent mob to the US Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” At the time, Trump said for those present on J6 to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” in his speech to supporters. Biden hammered the riot of January 6, 2021 for most of his remarks.

He then added that it is the “American people that have to render judgment on Donald Trump’s behavior,” alluding to the upcoming election and then said that the “American people must decide if they want to entrust the presidency once again to Donald Trump.” 

Biden took no questions and walked away from the reporters present.  

The ruling summary in the SCOTUS decision stated, "The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.”  

It adds, “And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive. The President therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party." 

SCOTUS’ ruling also stated that "because the President cannot be prosecuted for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority, Trump is absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials." 

The case will be sent back to the lower courts for further review of what acts Trump took that were official and unofficial. Justice Clarence Thomas also questioned the legitimacy of Jack Smith’s participation on the case as the special counsel.