Biden Campaign To Target Trump Legal Issues In Risky Swing State Ad Strategy

US President Joe Biden's re-election campaign is out with a new USD$50 million ad buy for June which will focus on Trump’s character, explicitly referencing Trump’s Manhattan ‘hush money’ criminal conviction and the two other civil suits that found him liable in a defamation case and a USD$355 million fraud case against his business.

• The ad campaign, which will target voters in swing states, could be risky for Biden. Some Democrat operatives have expressed concerns that any move to directly target Trump’s legal issues could feed into Trump’s claim of political persecution – an argument which has proved fertile for fundraising amongst his core base.
• Semafor notes: “It’s the most direct aim the Biden campaign has taken at Trump over his various legal issues, which they had largely sidestepped before the recent verdict. The campaign said the ad is intended to set up a contrast ahead of the candidates’ CNN debate.”
• The Washington Post notes: "Polling and focus groups by both the campaign and independent groups supporting Biden have found that arguments about Trump’s personal aggrievement and determination to get revenge are among the most persuasive ones they can make to voters."
• Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats’ weaponized the justice system against President Trump. [T]his new ad once again proves the sham trial was always meant to be election interference, but Americans see through it.”