Biden attacks Trump as ‘convicted criminal’ in ad
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is escalating attacks against Donald Trump over the former president’s recent guilty verdict and other legal troubles, launching a new television ad Monday as part of a massive $50 million paid media campaign that slams Trump as a “convicted criminal.”
The 30-second spot, which will air in battleground states and on national cable television, marks the Biden campaign’s first ad that tries to seize on Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in his New York criminal hush money trial last month.
“In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is: He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud,” a narrator says in the ad, which shows clips of Trump in court. “Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s been working.”
The ad touts Biden’s efforts to lower health care costs and make “big corporations pay their fair share.”
“This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself and a president who’s fighting for your family,” the ad concludes.
The ad’s rollout comes 10 days before the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, set for June 27 on CNN.
By hitting Trump over his conviction, the Biden campaign risks inviting attacks from Republican critics who argue Trump’s prosecution was motivated by politics and the 2024 election.
“Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats weaponized the justice system against President Trump and this new ad once again proves the sham trial was always meant to be election interference, but Americans see through it,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The ad shows the Biden campaign plans to remind Americans of Trump’s conviction even after Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty on three felony gun counts last week.
“Character matters,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “And the president of the United States should be someone who understands that the highest office in the land is about you and your family – not a vehicle to enrich yourself. That is the ethos Joe Biden puts into the job every day.”
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records. His sentencing date is July 11.