President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign will spend $50 million through the end of June on a campaign that includes its first television ad addressing Donald Trump’s felony conviction, pointing out that the Democratic incumbent is trying to turn his Republican opponent’s legal problems into a bigger issue ahead of the November elections.
The advertising effort comes when election day is still months away. But Biden’s campaign says it wants to more clearly define the choice between the candidates before the first debate between them in Atlanta on June 27.
The ad campaign includes more than $1 million for media that reaches Black, Hispanic and Asian voters and an ad highlighting Trump’s conviction for 34 felonies in New York in a hush-hush case, which will air on general market television and on connected television on streaming devices and cell phones in swing states, as well as on cable television nationwide.
Effort to put Trump’s legal problems at the center of presidential campaign
In addition to condemning Trump, the ad, titled “Character Matters,” notes that The former president was also found responsible for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate proceedings. Trump also faces felony charges in three other criminal cases, none of which will go to trial before the November election.
“In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump as he is,” the ad’s narrator says. He adds over images of Trump’s mugshot and images of Biden with supporters: “This election is between a convicted criminal who is only out for his own self-interest and a president who is fighting for your family.”
Biden has also frequently discussed Trump’s 34 felony convictions while criticizing the former president for claiming the case against him was politically motivated. Biden maintains that “it is reckless, dangerous, irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because he doesn’t like the verdict.”
Biden’s son Hunter was convicted last week in Delaware of three felonies related to the purchase of a handgun in 2018, when he lied on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not an illegal drug user or addict. drugs. The president has said he will accept the sentence and “continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.”
A central part of Biden’s reelection strategy is to highlight Trump’s policy proposals for a second term and energize disaffected Democrats and independent voters. Still, by producing an ad that leans heavily on Trump’s conviction and including it in such a large ad buy, the campaign shows a new effort to make Trump’s legal problems an electoral issue in ways that the Biden’s team previously resisted.
“It’s a stark contrast, and it’s one that matters deeply to the American people,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement. “And that’s why we’ll make sure that every day we remind voters how Joe Biden is fighting for them, while Donald Trump runs a campaign centered on one man and one man only: himself.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has argued, without evidence, that Biden or Justice Department officials orchestrated the New York case against him for political reasons. He and his allies have also raised the possibility of prosecuting his political opponents as revenge if he returns to the White House.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the Biden administration had “weaponized the justice system against President Trump” and that the contrast between her candidate and Biden “will be very clear on the debate stage.” ”.
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