President Joe Biden has had little to say about a New York grand jury's recent indictment of former President Donald Trump over an alleged payoff to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Vice President Kamala Harris also refused to address the subject when asked about it during a press conference in Zambia. Yet as Fox News reported, that strategy quickly ran into a major problem.
"I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president," Fox News quoted Harris as telling a reporter on Friday.
However, Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema was not content to let the matter rest and instead launched into a philosophical monologue on the rule of law.
Kamala Harris, Vice President: "I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president.”
Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia’s President "The indictment of President Trump. What does that mean to rule of law?” https://t.co/stvz6ffUYn pic.twitter.com/Ww2orD4iMb
— The Hill (@thehill) March 31, 2023
Hichilema began with a rhetorical question, asking, "The indictment of President Trump — what does that mean to the rule of law?"
"Let's remove names from your question," Zambia's president continued, adding, "Let's put what we decided we would do to govern ourselves in an orderly manner."
"[We] passed our constitutions — bedrock law. Then, secondary laws, other regulations create a platform or framework around which we agreed either as Americans or as Zambians to govern ourselves and so to live within those confines," Hichilema stressed.
"And when there's transgression against law, it does not matter who is involved. I think that is what the rule of law means. This is universal," he insisted.
Zambia's president then went on to try and connect Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation of Trump to corruption in his own country.
"And here, Vice President, we have a scenario now when we fight against corruption which has taken away resources from children and the sick — sometimes names are thrown into it and perceptions are created that are totally inappropriate," Hichilema said.
"Because transgressions against the law, if you take what belongs to the public, you have offended the law and the name does not matter," he declared.
Meanwhile, Fox News noted that federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York decided not to charge Trump following an investigation of the alleged payment to Daniels in 2019.
What's more, the network also pointed out how another investigation by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was wrapped up in 2021 with no action being taken.
