But this was no ordinary extraordinary case. And President Biden was no disinterested bystander. If Mr. Biden spoke out directly, he would doubtlessly feed into Mr. Trump’s false narrative that the prosecution was nothing more than a political hit job to take out his challenger. Mr. Biden’s damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t conundrum meant that his political risks essentially outweighed his presidential imperatives. While many of his predecessors have played a pastoral role at other moments when the justice system was tested during incendiary cases — think Rodney King, Michael Brown or George Floyd — Mr. Biden concluded that speaking out would make things worse, not better.

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Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, Rodney King, Michael Brown, George Floyd — Mr Organizations: White Locations: United States