It's not the first time + someone do something

Question

I read this,

It’s not the first time Biden has voiced this
  Trump-is-terrible-but-Republicans-are-OK sentiment.

And I find this sentence structure almost always is that "... not the first time" connects verb present perfect tense but with some exceptions,

I want to say this is not the first time I represented a witness in a
  criminal case.

Is this a mistake? Or who can explain it to me why it should be perfect tense behind "be not the first time"?

chasly - supports Monica · Answer

I want to say this is not the first time I represented a witness in a
criminal case.

In my version of British English this is a mistake.

It could be
I want to say this is not the first time I have represented a witness in a criminal case.
or
I want to say this was not the first time I represented a witness in a criminal case.

The tenses in the original make the sentence ambiguous as well as stylistically poor and grammatically doubtful.

David Siegel · Answer

"Not the first time" can be used in any tense.

If a future US president were to suspend Habes Corpus it would not be the first time this has been done.
  When I leave home tomorrow, it will not be the fist time I have done so.
  When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, it was not the first time this Roman law had been violated.

It's not the first time + someone do something

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