After Weekend of Protest Arrests, a Trump Accusation on Biden

President's allegations appear linked to staffers' donations to group paying bail fees
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2020 9:29 AM CDT
Trump Accuses Biden Team of Springing 'Anarchists' From Jail
In this combination of file photos, Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Del., on March 12, 2020, left, and President Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on April 5, 2020.   (AP Photo, File)

After a tumultuous weekend of protests across America over the death of George Floyd, police departments nationwide reported multiple arrests. On Monday morning, President Trump made an allegation against his presumptive challenger in November on those people behind bars. "Biden's people are so Radical Left that they are working to get the Anarchists out of jail, and probably more," Trump tweeted. "Joe doesn't know anything about it, he is clueless, but they will be the real power, not Joe. They will be calling the shots!" Shortly before that, Trump had simply posted: "NOVEMBER 3RD." Fox News notes Trump's tweets seem to refer to a Reuters report from Sunday that more than a dozen Biden campaign staffers had posted online they made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a group opposing cash bail and keeping people who can't pay it in jail before their trial.

The group solicits donations so it can pay bail fees. It appeared Trump's tweets were spurred by him watching Fox & Friends, as his two previous tweets just minutes before those tagged the show, with one of those posts mentioning the bail money issue. A Biden campaign rep wouldn't confirm to Reuters if the donations had been coordinated by the campaign itself, but he did note that his boss considers the concept of cash bail to be akin to a "modern-day debtors prison." On Saturday, the Trump campaign blasted Biden's team for "financially [supporting] the mayhem that is hurting innocent people and destroying what good people spent their lives building," though Fox notes that the former VP has come out against the violence at the protests. "Protesting such brutality is right and necessary," Biden said in a Saturday statement. "But burning down communities and needless destruction is not." (More President Trump stories.)

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