The Biden campaign announced a $50 million advertisement investment Monday as part of its effort to demonstrate the contrast between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in the days leading up to the first presidential debate at the end of June.
As part of the $50 million investment, the campaign is releasing a 30-second advertisement titled "Character Matters," which highlights judgments against Trump in both criminal and civil trials.
"He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud," the narrator says in the advertisement. "Meanwhile, Joe Biden's been working."
A jury in New York last month found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his hush money case, while a New York jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. In 2022, another jury in New York found the Trump Organization guilty of tax fraud. Trump himself was not charged in that case.
The Biden campaign said the television advertisement will run "in all battleground states" and on cable TV.
"This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family," the narrator says.
Biden referred to Trump as a "convicted felon" shortly after the verdict was announced, saying it was "disturbing" that "a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency."
As the Biden campaign attacks Trump for his conviction, Biden’s son was convicted on three gun-related felony charges last week. After Hunter Biden was found guilty, the president called his son “one of the brightest, most decent men I know” and said he was “extremely proud” of him.
Biden and Trump, who remain neck and neck in polls, are set to square off at a debate on June 27. The new advertisement is in line with how Biden is expected to emphasize the contrast between him and his predecessor on the debate stage.
In response to the ad, the Trump campaign called the hush money case a "sham trial" and repeated claims of a "weaponized" justice system.
"The contrast between President Trump’s strength and success versus Crooked Joe Biden’s weakness, failures, and dishonesty will be made clear on the debate stage next week," campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X.
The Biden campaign has said the president is preparing to "hold Trump accountable for his extreme record" during the debate, saying Biden is "projecting himself as the wise and steady leader in contrast to Trump’s chaos and division."
The paid media campaign for June includes investments designed to reach Black, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters, according to the campaign.
The $50 million paid media announcement comes on the heels of successful campaign fundraising efforts. Over the weekend, it said, the Biden campaign and its allies raked in more than $30 million as part of a Los Angeles fundraiser, which featured a slew of celebrities.
The Biden campaign ended April with more than $84 million, compared to the Trump campaign's more than $49 million, receipts from the Federal Election Commission show. April is the most recent month for which FEC fundraising data is available.
News by Megan Lebowitz
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