Washington — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign announced Monday that it will spend $50 million through the end of June on a new advertising campaign that will highlight Republican Donald Trump’s felony conviction.
The pricey advertising campaign comes as Election Day is still more than four and a half months away. But Biden’s campaign says it wants to clarify the options between the two candidates ahead of their first debate on June 27 in Atlanta.
Biden’s campaign approach includes emphasizing Trump’s expansive program proposals for a second term and rallying disillusioned Democrats and independent voters. The campaign’s production of an ad that strongly relies on Trump’s conviction, and its inclusion in such a massive advertising buy, suggests a renewed push to make Trump’s legal difficulties an election issue in ways that Biden’s team previously opposed.
The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million in media targeted at Black, Hispanic, and Asian American voters, as well as an ad highlighting Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal counts in a New York hush-money case. That commercial will run on general market television, linked TV on streaming devices and cell phones in battleground states, as well as national cable.
In addition to Trump’s criminal conviction, the commercial, titled “Character Matters,” states that the former president was convicted accountable for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate cases. Trump also faces felony accusations in three different criminal cases, none of which may be tried before the November election.
“This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only looking out for himself and a president who’s fighting for your family,” the ad’s announcer says over pictures of Trump’s mug shot and Biden high-fiving fans.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday night. But Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claimed, without evidence, that Biden or Justice Department officials organized the New York case against him for political purposes. He and his associates have even mentioned the possibility of prosecuting political opponents in retaliation if he returns to the White House.
Source: apnews.com
