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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks earlier this month in Delaware.
AFP via Getty Images
Joe Biden on Monday is expected to attack President Donald Trump as having sparked recent violence, in a speech that comes as swing-state polls show the Democratic challenger’s lead is eroding in the White House race.
“This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country. He can’t stop the violence – because for years he has fomented it,” Biden is expected to say in a speech in Pittsburgh, according to an excerpt of his prepared remarks that was released by his campaign.
“He may believe mouthing the words ‘law and order’ makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows you how weak he is. Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected?”
Biden’s address in the swing state of Pennsylvania is occurring as polls focused on battleground states show the former vice president’s advantage over Trump declining. In a RealClearPolitics average of polls as of Monday, the Democratic nominee is leading the Republican incumbent by 2.7 percentage points in key swing states that are likely to decide the November election, down from his 6.3-point edge a month ago.
Ahead of Biden’s speech, the Trump campaign made a counterattack.
“Biden’s coming out of his basement today and traveling to Pittsburgh to pretend that he’s spoken out against violence all along and cast blame of President Trump,” a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, Jason Miller, told reporters on a conference call on Monday morning. “But the fact is President Trump has been the one who’s been stopping the violence the whole time.”
Biden and other Democrats on Sunday accused Trump of trying to inflame racial tensions to benefit his campaign as he praised supporters who clashed with protesters in Portland, Ore., where one man had just died, and announced he will travel to Kenosha, Wis., amid anger over the shooting of another Black man by police.
The main U.S. stock gauges SPX, -0.03% DJIA, -0.76% on Monday were trading mostly lower on August’s last session, but staying on track to notch monthly gains of 7% or more.
