WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden re-election campaign said Monday it will spend $50 million through the end of June on a new ad campaign that includes efforts to highlight Republicans Donald Trump’s criminal conviction.
The costly publicity push comes as Election Day is still more than four and a half months away. But Biden’s campaign says it wants to more clearly define the choice between the two candidates before the first debate between them in Atlanta on June 27.
A central part of Biden’s campaign strategy is highlighting Trump’s far-reaching policy proposals for a second term and galvanizing disaffected Democrats and independent voters. The campaign producing an ad that leans heavily on Trump’s vision convictionand including him in such a large ad buy indicates a renewed effort to make Trump’s legal troubles an election issue in ways Biden’s team previously resisted.
The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million aimed at media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters, and an ad highlighting Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal charges in New York silence case. This ad will be broadcast on general market television and connected TV on streaming devices and cell phones in swing states, as well as on national cable TV.
In addition to Trump’s criminal conviction, the ad, titled “Character Matters,” notes that the former president was also found responsible for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate cases. Trump also faces criminal charges in three separate criminal cases, none of which could go to trial before the November election.
“This election is between a convicted criminal who only defends himself and a president who fights for his family,” intones the ad’s narrator over images of a photo of Trump and Biden supporters shaking hands.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night. But Trump has denied any wrongdoing and argued, without evidence, that Biden or Justice Department officials orchestrated the New York case against him for political reasons. He and his allies also raised the prospect of sue political opponents as revenge if he returns to the White House.
