Donald Trump’s campaign launched a new ad accusing President Joe Biden without evidence of corruptly engineering the multiple criminal charges dogging his presidential bid.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s campaign launched a new ad accusing President Joe Biden without evidence of corruptly engineering the multiple criminal charges dogging his presidential bid.
The ad debuted Tuesday even as grand jurors in Washington were convening to consider Trump’s possible indictment on charges of attempting to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden. It’s the latest salvo in what’s likely to become a scorched-earth legal and political campaign by the former president as he attempts to retake the White House in 2024.
With dark imagery and in a sinister tone, the 60-second ad says Biden is “acting just like a corrupt third world dictator.”
“Biden has unleashed a cadre of unscrupulous government bureaucrats he controls to act like rabid wolves and attack his greatest threat, launching one of the greatest witch hunts in history,” the ad says.
Photos of four prosecutors investigating Trump appear on screen: Special Counsel Jack Smith; New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose name is misspelled in the ad; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg; and District Attorney Fani Willis of Fulton County, Georgia.
Read more: Trump Says Indictment on Jan. 6 Charges Could Come ‘Any Day Now’
“Donald Trump is right back to doing what he does best: Trying to gaslight America with lies to cover up for his performance as president,” said Ammar Moussa, a Democratic National Committee spokesman. “The American people voted against this in 2020 and will reject it again. All the ads in the world won’t change the facts.”
Trump has said he expects to be indicted “any day now” by the grand jury that Smith convened in Washington to investigate the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Trump encouraged supporters to march on the US Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.
Trump’s mounting court problems are taking a financial toll on his campaign, as his super political action committee burns through cash to handle legal expenses for the former president and his allies.
The ad, which debuted on Fox News Tuesday morning, is the Trump campaign’s first new paid ad in nearly two months. With his edge over the rest of the Republican field growing — he now leads Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 37 points in the FiveThirtyEight average of national polls — he’s increasingly turning his attention to a general-election match up against Biden.
The ad begins with footage of Biden stumbling, tripping and falling off his bicycle and makes a number of allegations related to the investigations involving the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
–With assistance from Zoe Tillman.
(Adds comments from Democratic National Committee spokesman in sixth paragraph)
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