Comedian Jon Stewart criticized President Biden for an awkward moment at the press conference when he was asked about former President Trump’s hush money conviction, calling the moment “not good.”
Stewart, host of “The Daily Show,” said many Democrats rallied enthusiastically around Trump’s conviction on Thursday, a “day they dreamed of,” and showed clips of reporters saying it was a day sad for the country.
“Perhaps nothing embodies the delicate tightrope between joy and seriousness more than President Biden’s press conference encore, Cheshire Cat,” Stewart said.
Biden, who held a news conference on Friday about a new Israeli-led proposal to end the war in Gaza, was beginning to walk away from reporters present when he was asked for his reaction to Trump directly blaming Biden for the verdict. The president then paused with his back to reporters.
Stewart, showing a clip of the moment, paused the video and cowered, hitting the table with his fist.
“No, don’t stop! Do not stop! Stewart shouted. “Why can’t they tell him ‘keep moving?’”
“Whenever he is in public and stops. Not good! Stewart said before resuming the clip.
In the video, Biden turned to reporters and smiled in response to their initial question about Trump. He then slowly turned around and waved his hand to rule out further questions before leaving the room.
“Why does everything have to be so strange? Why?” Stewart said. “If you have something to say about it, say it. If you don’t have something to say about it, don’t say it.”
“But you’re just going to stop and hit them with some kind of 70s sitcom freeze frame?” He continued.
He rolled a clip of Biden smiling and played TV show music over it with text that read: “And President Biden as ‘Colonel Butters’.”
Biden and his campaign largely stayed away from Trump’s secret trial until early last week, when the campaign held a news conference outside the courthouse with actor Robert De Niro and two police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 attack. 2021 to the Capitol.
On Friday, after the verdict, Biden said it was reckless and dangerous for Trump to say the trial was rigged.
“Our justice system must be respected and we must never allow anyone to overthrow it; It’s that simple,” Biden said, acknowledging that it is Trump’s right to appeal the verdict.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
