As donald trump It is Joe Biden prepared to face off on the debate stage, Trump previewed a line of attack against his Democratic opponent in a long-running feud over the former president’s attempts to link Biden to his son’s foreign business dealings.
Biden HunterThe president’s struggles have intensified in recent weeks over his felony conviction in a gun trial – proceedings that led Republicans to take a victory lap when government witnesses confirmed the authenticity of his abandoned laptop computer, materials that fueled GOP allegations that he spent years profiting from his closeness to his father.
Now, Biden and Trump are about to face off for the first time since 2020 in a debate organized by CNN in its Atlanta studio, with Trump suggesting he will repeat the line of attack.
“It was not Russian disinformation. It was a story made up for the purposes of election interference,” Trump said at a recent conservative conference. “I assume we will talk about this in the debate.”
There will be no in-person audience for the 90-minute debate, a dynamic that threatens to alter expectations.
“It’s saying what’s happening, indirectly, with applause or without applause”, Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. He acknowledged that he interrupted Biden too often during the first debate against him in September 2020 and said he learned from the experience.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said there is a ready opportunity for moderators to show a level playing field for Trump on Thursday.
“If CNN wants to prove it is fair and balanced, it should ask Joe Biden why he lied about the existence of Hunter Biden’s laptop at the debate four years ago in 2020,” Leavitt told NBC News.
In the October 2020 general election debate, after Trump mentioned the laptop, Biden responded that it was a “Russian plot.”
Biden is preparing to face several possible Trumps on Thursday, including a Trump full of complaints and a version that follows a more disciplined message, with Biden advisers combing recent interviews to identify his trigger points.
Trump has avoided attacking Hunter Biden over his struggle with addiction, a move that some say lends itself to extending an olive branch to the former president’s son. A Trump ally suggested it would be wise to offer a commutation of Hunter Biden’s sentence if he wins.
There is evidence to suggest that Trump has a softer view of Hunter Biden than his father, whom Trump’s allies hope he will follow after following from Trump conviction about accusations related to a silent payment.
“Trump does not see Hunter Biden’s struggle with addiction as a target,” said a former senior Trump administration official. “The animosity is toward Joe Biden, and there’s a notion that Hunter wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for his father.”
At Camp David, Maryland, Biden has been preparing for the debate to unfold. This includes the idea that Trump might raise the issue of Hunter Biden and his legal issues. Meanwhile, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a leading vice presidential candidate, challenged CNN to raise questions about the laptop, Trump’s political action committee presented possible lines of inquiry to the moderators, and the Trump’s Truth Social posts appear to increase. the possibility of him bringing up the issue, said a source familiar with debate preparations and discussions.
But Biden’s advisers don’t think the issue will definitely come up in the debate or that it will be a significant focus if it does, and aides have tracked public comments from Trump suggesting he might soften his tone.
There’s a chance Trump will sidestep the issue entirely. While Hunter Biden’s recent gun trial put his spiral into drugs under a microscope, Trump avoided attacking him over his addiction. Instead, he spoke at length about his own brother’s fight with alcoholism in an interview with Sean Hannity while Biden’s trial was underway.
“You sympathize with addiction — I think most Americans do,” Hannity said before trying to steer the interview toward what he called “bigger issues surrounding the Biden family.”
Trump intervened. “Excuse me,” he said. “Look, I feel really bad for them in terms of the addiction part that they have now, because I understand the world of addiction. … Frankly, it would be nice if people did certain things and lived certain ways, but you can’t. They just aren’t able to break it.”
Some Republican allies believe that talking about Hunter Biden’s conviction is bad policy for Trump because it risks highlighting his own legal issues. After a historic nearly two-month trial, he was convicted in New York City last month of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign. His support among swing voters and independents appeared to waver in a recent poll on Fox News, in which Joe Biden took a slight lead over Trump in a general election contest. This advantage is within the margin of error.
“It takes us away from the message,” said a Republican consultant with ties to Trump. “Who knows what happens if Biden says something that angers him? But the more we can talk about the problems, the better it will be for us.”
The consultant said he risks triggering retaliation that is unlikely to do Trump any favors.
“He will say you are a convicted felon and that will turn off independents; This will drive away these undecided voters,” said the consultant.
Biden aides feel he had a “very strong” moment when in 2020 Trump attacked Hunter Biden on the debate stage, an exchange they would like to see repeated, a source familiar with the preparations and discussions said, noting that the oo president is pleased to reiterate his support for his son in recovering from addiction.
The source said Biden is prepared to reaffirm what he has already said publicly: that he has no plans to pardon his son or commute his sentence.
Trump, meanwhile, has been advised to focus on the issues and is being prepared on policy.
“The more Donald Trump can talk about the issues, about his accomplishments and about his vision for the country, the better off we will be,” this person said.
A source familiar with some of the strategies discussed echoed that sentiment, saying, “Trump will focus on the issues people know him and love him for.”
The danger, this person said, is “you mention Hunter, [Biden] brings to light the New York court verdict,” referring to Trump’s recent conviction on charges related to hush money payments stemming from the 2016 campaign.
House Republican Leaders This Month sent criminal references to the Justice Department recommending charges against Hunter and James Biden, the president’s brother, alleging that statements they made before the Oversight and Judiciary committees implicate Joe Biden in what Republicans say was an effort to profit from his family’s business while he he was vice president. Biden has denied any wrongdoing and Republican Party investigations have not yet turned up evidence implicating him.
But pressing the issue will not matter unless Biden faces criminal sanctions.
“We proved it with Trump,” said a former Trump aide. “The charges didn’t hurt until he was convicted.”
During the first debate in 2020, Biden said Trump’s claims that his son received payments from foreign business partners when Biden was vice president had been “completely discredited.” When the two faced off in a second debate weeks later, Trump returned to the topic, trying to link Biden to materials allegedly taken from a computer that Hunter Biden had abandoned in a Delaware repair shop during his spiral into drug addiction.
“If that’s true, then he’s a corrupt politician,” Trump said before turning to Biden. “So don’t tell me that story about you being this innocent baby.”
In response, Biden cited a letter from 51 former intelligence officials who claimed the laptop files had “the classic hallmarks” of Russian disinformation. It was an allegation designed to draw Trump’s ire after he faced a special investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia and was considered an alleged “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin by Hillary Clinton four years earlier.
The White House denied that Biden had any involvement in his son’s business.
Furthermore, although Trump has continued to increase money Following his conviction in New York, a former adviser said the frequent reminders risked hurting his appeal with independent and swing voters.
“Right now, he’s Richard Nixon with two fingers up saying, ‘I’m not a crook,’” the former aide said.
And there are other pitfalls. If Trump attacks Biden’s age, “he mentions that they are the same age,” the ally said.
Another source familiar with Trump’s planning said: “I told him to stay away. But no one tells Donald what to do.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
