Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, our White House team reports on how Joe Biden and his team are preparing for the upcoming verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker dives into how voters are feeling about the state of American democracy.
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.
Biden campaign preps for a Trump trial verdictBy Monica Alba, Natasha Korecki and Mike Memoli
President Joe Biden has largely steered clear of former President Donald Trump’s legal woes. But with a verdict in the hush money trial coming as soon as next week, Biden’s campaign is exploring a shift to a new, more aggressive posture, according to two people familiar with the strategy.
Regardless of the outcome, top Biden campaign officials plan to stress to voters that Trump will be on the ballot in the fall and that no potential court proceeding will change that fact.
Do you have a news tip? Let us know
A person familiar with the discussions summed it up this way: “Donald Trump’s legal troubles are not going to keep him out of the White House. Only one thing will do that: voting this November for Joe Biden.”
If Trump is found guilty at his trial in New York City, the Biden campaign will also have to consider whether to brand him as a “convicted felon,” this person added. “It’s an open question.”
The campaign views the conclusion of the trial as one of the 2024 election’s inflection points, when the minute-by-minute sideshow of courtroom drama will end and the time for voters to focus on what’s at stake in November will arrive, one of the sources said.
The Biden team expects to send a message that if Trump is acquitted, or if there is a hung jury, voters shouldn’t wait for the outcome of his other legal issues to be determinative, either.
For the most part, Biden has been careful about directly commenting on the trial, avoiding playing into Trump’s narrative that his legal issues amount to election interference from the Biden administration.
But the president made a splash last week when, in a video posted to social media, he agreed to debate Trump, musing, “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.” Biden was referring to Trump’s courtroom schedule, which has allowed a day off each Wednesday. The line was widely shared across social media platforms, and the campaign started selling T-shirts with it.
Read more →
What voters are saying about the state of democracyBy Kristen Welker
So many issues are at stake in November — the economy,