Biden targets Trump conviction with $50m election ad campaign

Joe Biden’s campaign is targeting Donald Trump’s criminal convictions in a new $50 million advert campaign ahead of the first presidential debate between the two candidates at the end of the month.

In the 30-second ad, which will run in all swing battleground states, voters will be told: “This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself, and a president who’s fighting for your family.”

The Biden campaign has previously steered clear of weighing in on Trump’s legal cases in an effort to avoid accusations by Republicans that President Biden is politicising the process.

Trump has, on a number of occasions, baselessly accused Biden of orchestrating charges against him.

But since Trump became the first US president in history to receive a criminal conviction when he was found guilty by a New York jury of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records, the Biden campaign has stepped up its attacks on the Republican nominee, publicly slamming his legal track record.

Earlier this month, at a fundraiser with a small group of donors in Greenwich, Connecticut, Biden for the first time called Trump a “convicted felon” and said his predecessor poses a threat to the United States if he wins another term.

The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million geared toward media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters. The advert will air on general market television and connected TV on streaming devices and mobile phones in battleground states, as well as on national cable stations.

In addition to Trump's criminal conviction, the ad, titled "Character Matters," notes the former president also was found liable for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate proceedings. Trump also faces felony charges in three separate criminal cases, none of which may go to trial before the November election. Trump has denied all charges against him.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted shortly after Trump’s conviction found that 10 per cent of Republican voters said they were less likely to vote for Trump in November after the guilty verdict. Biden's son Hunter was this month convicted by a jury for lying about his illegal drug use to buy a gun, making him the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a crime. Polls including one from Reuters/Ipsos shows a vast majority of voters say Hunter's conviction won't affect their vote in the November 5 election.

While Biden and Trump remain tied in national polls, Trump still has the edge over his opponent in the battleground states that will decide the election, polls conducted before the conviction show. But Democrats have vowed to spend more than $10 million on House and Senate races in these states, in a bid to boost Biden’s support.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President Heather Williams told NBC that legislative candidates are “a critical part” of getting Biden elected, adding that they are part of a broader effort that includes “not only telling the story of their campaigns and their priorities, but also the story of Democratic Party values, of how we are advancing those, and the story of the president’s agenda.”

“Those conversations are incredibly powerful and they bring people into the process in a way that certainly supports the entire ticket — up and down the ballot,” Williams said.

The new approach comes ahead of the first debate between Trump and Biden of the 2024 election cycle, which will be aired on CNN on June 27. A second faceoff is set for September 10, hosted by ABC.

The Biden campaign's fundraising in April lagged behing Trump's for the first time, after the former president ramped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers.

Democrats still maintained an overall cash advantage over Trump and the Biden campaign continues to have a considerably larger war chest. On Saturday, Biden raised $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report