The Biden campaign on Monday launched an ad campaign that leans heavily into former President Donald Trump’s status as a convicted felon.
Titled “Character Matters,” the ad is part of a $50 million ad campaign in swing states and sets the table for the presidential debate on June 27 in Atlanta.
“In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault and he committed financial fraud,” the narrator says. “Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s been working.”
The 30-second ad highlights the president’s efforts to lower health costs and make corporations pay workers higher wages. It will run on television in battleground states and on national cable channels, the campaign said.
Mr. Biden has been reluctant to comment on his Republican rival’s legal travails, hoping to put distance between himself and the judicial system or his Department of Justice. Mr. Trump was convicted in a state court in New York.
Yet the new ad shows the Biden campaign has no qualms about highlighting Mr. Trump’s woes, including a criminal conviction for falsifying business records and civil judgments for defamation and manipulating the Trump Organization’s financial statements.
“This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself and a president who is fighting for your family,” the ad narrator says.
Mr. Trump says his legal problems are part of a Democratic plot to thwart his campaign. He’s pointed to the timing of the indictments in Democratic strongholds and claims his rivals are compensating for Mr. Biden’s waning cognitive abilities at age 81.
Mr. Trump, 78, is tied or leading Mr. Biden in many battleground polls, despite his mountain of legal issues. The debate in Atlanta could create momentum for either candidate heading into the summer party conventions.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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