Will Weisert, The Associated Press
28 minutes ago
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at 180 Church in Detroit, Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's reelection campaign had spent $50 million through the end of June, an onslaught that included its first TV ads touting Donald Trump's felony convictions, showing the Democratic incumbent trying to make his Republican opponent's legal problems a bigger issue heading into November.
The promotion comes with more than five months until Election Day, but the Biden campaign wants to make the choice clearer before the candidates' first debate on June 27 in Atlanta.
The ad campaign includes a more than $1 million media budget to appeal to Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters, as well as spots highlighting Trump's 34 felony conviction in New York in a hush-money case. The ads will air on mass market television in battleground states, internet TV on streaming devices and mobile phones, and national cable.
The ad, titled “Character Matters,” points out that in addition to Trump's criminal convictions, the former president was also found guilty of sexual assault and financial fraud in a separate trial. Trump also faces felony charges in three other criminal cases, none of which may go to trial before the November election.
“This election is between a convicted felon who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family,” the ad's narrator says, over footage of Trump's arrest and Biden high-fiving supporters.
Biden has also frequently referred to Trump's 34 felony convictions, accusing the former president of being politically motivated, saying the case against him was “reckless, dangerous and irresponsible to say there was fraud just because you don't like the verdict.”
Biden's son, Hunter, was convicted last week of three felony counts related to the 2018 purchase of a revolver in Delaware. Prosecutors alleged that Hunter lied about illegal drug use or addiction on a mandatory gun purchase application. The president accepted the outcome of the case and said he would “continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers his appeal.”
A central part of Biden's reelection strategy is to highlight Trump's policy proposals for a second term and galvanize support among disaffected Democrats and independents. Still, the campaign's decision to produce an ad so heavily biased toward convicting Trump and include it in such a big ad spend marks a new effort to make Trump's legal issues an election issue in a way that the Biden campaign has resisted so far.
“This is a stark contrast and one that matters deeply to the American people,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Taylor said in a statement. “That's why we remind voters every day that Joe Biden is fighting for them, while Donald Trump is running a campaign focused solely on one person: himself.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has alleged without evidence that Biden or Justice Department officials orchestrated the New York lawsuit for political reasons. Trump and his allies have also suggested he could retaliate by prosecuting political opponents if he returns to the White House.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said the Biden administration has “used the justice system as a weapon against President Trump” and that the differences between their candidate and Biden “will be very clear on the debate stage.”
