Donald Trump faces backlash after sharing video featuring a hogtied Joe Biden
Former President Donald Trump is facing intense criticism for what Democrats say is a new low this weekend after sharing a video on his social media website that has an image of President Joe Biden hogtied.
In a 20-second video posted on the presumptive Republican nominee's Truth Social page, a pickup truck featuring pro-Trump flags can be seen with a large decal on its rear end showing Biden bound by his legs and hands, lying horizontally.
Trump indicated the clip was filmed in Long Island on Thursday while he was there attending the wake of Officer Jonathan Diller, a New York City police officer gunned down in the line of duty.
Promoting the video ignited a new round of condemnation from Trump's critics, who pointed to how the GOP contender has repeatedly used grisly images in the past and who asserted it crosses a serious line in U.S. politics.
"A realistic picture of President Biden tied up helpless in the back of a van with Trump's gloating mug in front of the scene. He's threatening the president's life," Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor emeritus said in a March 29 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"That's a felony. If anyone else did it, the feds would arrest him. What now?"
Asked about sharing the clip, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung pivoted to several comments by Democrats in years past that he alluded to as going too far.
Among the examples Cheung spotlighted was a 2018 comment made by Biden referring to Trump's infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, which surfaced during the 2016 campaign.
"If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," Biden said at the time.
"Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him," Cheung said.
The Biden campaign did immediately responded to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump posts video online showing Biden hogtied
