Bidenworld Has Its Eyes On November After the Trump Verdict

The campaign encouraged surrogates to focus on the ballot box and Donald Trump’s record, according to talking points obtained by NOTUS.

President Joe Biden arrives on Air Force One at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y.
President Joe Biden does not plan to speak publicly on the Donald Trump verdict on Thursday, a White House official said. Alex Brandon/AP

The Biden campaign knows that a conviction — even on 34 counts — isn’t enough to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. So while staff was glued to the news and quickly put out a written statement on the former president’s unprecedented criminal conviction, they took every chance to pivot back to beating Trump in November.

A little over 20 minutes after the jury began reading Trump’s guilty verdicts, the campaign put out a statement urging voters to support President Joe Biden.

“[T]oday’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.