Joe Biden’s campaign defended including scenes of a naturalization ceremony in an ad after blasting President Trump for using immigrants as “political props” during the Republican National Convention.
Biden spokesman Andrew Bates ripped hypocrisy complaints, arguing that there was “an inherent difference” between the two-term vice president overlaying photos and footage of a 2009 swearing-in ceremony he attended in Iraq in the two-minute spot and Trump’s ceremony during this week’s confab.
“Joe Biden traveled to a war zone to preside over a naturalization ceremony for service members who were becoming citizens of the United States after putting their lives on the line for this country,” Bates told the Washington Examiner.
Bates said to compare that to Trump, “who has spent his entire presidency cynically demonizing immigrants in efforts to divide the American people for his own gain” and then “staged a ceremony so that he could violate the law and lie about his record.”
The images of Biden, seen at the 90-second mark, were captured during a diplomatic mission to Iraq that coincided with the Fourth of July during the Obama administration’s first year. There, Biden presided over a naturalization ceremony in which 237 troops became American citizens, including 12 from Iraq.
Trump this week pushed boundaries as an incumbent president vying for a second term by issuing a pardon and overseeing a citizenship ceremony in the White House as part of his convention’s prime-time programming.
Both Trump’s campaign and administration insisted that neither side broke the law after House Democrats called for an investigation into whether acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf violated the Hatch Act by participating in the swearing-in ceremony. The Hatch Act bans executive branch employees from promoting political interests during the normal course of their work.
Biden was one of Trump’s most prominent critics during the event, slamming the president for taking advantage of immigrants as “political props.”
Immigrants are not your political props, Mr. President. https://t.co/GDR6FLvTKe
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 27, 2020
The Biden ad, called “Keep Up,” premiered on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News on Thursday ahead of Trump’s renomination acceptance speech through a $2 million buy. Fox News aired the spot via a split screen while White House deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino delivered his convention address.
“Keep Up” will continue to be broadcast throughout the weekend in battleground states such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin via a broader $26 million spend as Biden and Trump enter the post-convention stage of their respective campaigns.
