Welcome to the online version of From the Policy Deska nightly newsletter that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News politics team on the campaign, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, our White House team reports on how Joe Biden and his team are preparing for the next verdict in Donald Trump’s secret trial. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker looks at how voters feel about the state of American democracy.
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Biden campaign prepares for Trump trial verdict
By Monica Alba, Natasha Korecki and Mike Memoli
President Joe Biden has largely avoided former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. But with the verdict in the monetary silence trial coming as soon as next week, Biden’s campaign is exploring a shift to a new, more aggressive stance, according to two people familiar with the strategy.
Regardless of the outcome, Biden’s top campaign officials plan to stress to voters that Trump will be on the ballot in the fall and that no potential lawsuit will change that fact.
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One person familiar with the discussions summed it up this way: “Donald Trump’s legal troubles won’t keep him out of the White House. Only one thing will do that: vote for Joe Biden in November.”
If Trump is found guilty at his trial in New York City, the Biden campaign will also have to consider whether to brand him a “convicted criminal,” this person added. “It’s an open question.”
The campaign sees the trial’s conclusion as one of the turning points of the 2024 election, when the minute-by-minute sideshow of the courtroom drama will end and the time will come for voters to focus on what’s at stake in November, one of the sources said. . he said.
Biden’s team hopes to send the message that if Trump is acquitted, or there is a hung jury, voters should not expect the outcome of his other legal issues to be decisive either.
For the most part, Biden was careful to comment directly on the trial, avoiding playing into Trump’s narrative that his legal challenges amount to election interference by the Biden administration.
But the president caused a sensation last week when, in a video posted on social media, he agreed to debate Trump, musing, “I heard you’re free on Wednesdays.” Biden was referring to Trump’s court schedule, which allows a day off every Wednesday. The line was shared widely across social media platforms and the campaign began selling t-shirts featuring it.
Read more →
What voters are saying about the state of democracy
By Kristen Welker
Many issues are at stake in November – the economy, abortion, immigration, foreign relations and even the future of the Supreme Court.
But the state of democracy in America also hangs over the 2024 elections.
Just take a look at these data points:
Eighty-one percent of voters – including supermajorities of Democrats and Republicans – believe that democracy in America is under threat, according to a recent Georgetown Institute for Politics and Public Service Research.
Nearly a third of voters feel so strongly about this that they say they will vote for or against a candidate on that issue alone, last month’s national NBC News poll showed.
A national CNN Poll also found last month that a third of voters – including 68% of Republicans – said they did not believe President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, confirming that election denialism remains on the back burner in the 2024 race.
Another third of voters say they are not confident that election votes will be counted accurately, according to a recent national report. Quinnipiac University Research.
Half of voters in swing states worry about political violence resulting from elections and their consequences, according to the latest Bloomberg/Morning Consult Survey.
And then there’s this: Nearly 40 percent of local election officials surveyed this year by the Brennan Center for Justice said they had experienced threats, harassment or abuse.
This includes four secretaries of state – from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania – who will join me this Sunday to talk about the threats they and their families faced following the 2020 election.
To learn more about these issues and more, tune in to “Meet the Press” this Sunday for a bipartisan conversation about America’s democracy — and how to protect it.
Today’s top news
- October surprise?: U.S. officials are preparing for North Korea to potentially take its most provocative military actions in a decade leading up to presidential elections — possibly at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Read more →
- ‘Deliberately discreet’: The president and his advisers will closely monitor developments in Hunter Biden’s criminal gun trial in Delaware when it begins in early June, but they do not plan to mount a rapid response operation. Read more →
- Election battle: Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine called a special legislative session to get Biden on the state’s ballot, calling the lack of action by Republican lawmakers on the issue “simply unacceptable.” Read more →
- Logging in: The New York Times notes that Elon Musk is steadily increasing his criticism of Biden on X. Read more →
- Scam Hunters: Florida wants local election officials to use data collected by far-right activists, some of whom falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen, to potentially remove people from the state’s voter rolls. Read more →
- 2⃣ VP files: NBC News’ Brandy Zadrozny explores how fringe ideas shaped the worldview of Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate. Read more →
- Party Crashers: Former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance Thursday night at a state dinner honoring Kenyan President William Ruto, reports The Washington Post. Read more →
- When politics and sport collide: In a new episode of his podcast, Chuck Todd spoke with Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Wizards, the NHL’s Capitals and the WNBA’s Mystics in Washington, D.C., about his brief attempt to move his sports empire to Alexandria, Virginia. Read (and listen) here →
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback – like or dislike – send us an email at newsletter@nbcuni.com
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