Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said President Joe Biden’s performance during Thursday’s CNN debate against former President Donald Trump “puts pressure” on New York Judge Juan Merchan to sentence Trump to prison on July 11.
On May 30, Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on all 34 counts in the falsification of business records linked to the Stormy Daniels hush money scandal.
Trump is expected to be sentenced for the conviction next week on Thursday, July 11.
Golden said he believes Merchan’s decision whether or not to jail Trump for the conviction as opposed to house arrest or other sentence stems from Biden’s disastrous performance during last week’s presidential debate.
“The pressure on Merchan got amped up a bunch [Thursday] night. If Joe Biden had a great performance, he met the expectation of what we think our commander in chief should do, then it would be a little bit easier for them to let it fight out. What happened last night? You saw one candidate capable of doing the job and one candidate not capable of doing the job,” Golden explained on Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“There’s no telling what kind of pressure this puts on Judge Merchan in New York,” Golden added.
In regards to Biden’s performance during the debate, Golden described the moment as a “sad thing for our country.”
“This is the argument that Republicans have been making for three years now that the mainstream media has been telling us that we’re wrong. Democrat politicians have been telling us that we’re wrong. They accused two weeks ago that every video that comes out of Biden was edited. It was fake news, all of this stuff. We got to see what happens when there’s not a teleprompter in front of Biden [Thursday] night. That first 45 minutes of the debate, look, it’s a sad thing for our country. I hate to say it. He’s clearly not capable of doing the job. I think there were a lot of agendas and narratives that were pulled back on what happened [Thursday] night,” Golden said.
When it comes to CNN’s conduction of the debate, Golden said the network appeared to host a fair debate for both candidates.
“I thought [CNN] did a pretty good job with it…I thought the questions were fair. I think they went after both sides, which, of course, for us is just getting fair…Then we see what the result of it is. President Trump wins overwhelmingly,” Golden said.
“I guess what we’re shocked at is the media going back to actually trying to get to the truth,” Golden added. “Maybe that was the bigger shock [Thursday] night than how bad Joe Biden was.”
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “TNGOP Chair Scott Golden” by the Tennessee Republican Party.
