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. But some Democrats were nonetheless frustrated by the president's public silence.
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.
"I may be alone in this, but I think he should address the convictions with some sobriety," said David Axelrod, who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama when Mr. Biden was vice president. "It was a sad and stunning day for our country, but we're a country of laws, not men."
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