The Biden-Harris 2024 campaign reacted yesterday to a press conference held by the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump after the New York Appellate Court reduced the amount Trump is required to post while he appeals a case in which he was found liable for fraud. A five-judge panel said Trump would not have to post the full amount of the judgement, $454 million with interest accruing, but instead could post less than half the amount — $175 million.
In a statement, Biden-Harris HQ referred to Trump as “weak and desperate — both as a man and a candidate for President.”
The statement also attacked Trump — who frequently claims that the multiple lawsuits against him prevent him from campaigning — for having spent the weekend golfing, announcing himself the winner of two championships at his golf resort, “comparing himself to Jesus,” and “lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have.”
Biden-Harris campaign statement on Donald Trump’s press conference pic.twitter.com/Eil32P2ikj
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) March 25, 2024
[NOTE: Trump claimed on social media that he had “almost $500 million in cash” days after his lawyers told the New York Appellate Court that he could not secure a $464 million bond, calling the pursuit of the bond a “practical impossibility.” The two claims — no bond, but plenty of cash — are not necessarily in conflict, as failure to secure a large surety bond (backed by cash or stock) from an insurer does not mean Trump doesn’t have access to liquidity through other means.]
Republican political pundit Frank Luntz criticized the Democratic Party for the statement and being “No longer the party of ‘when they go low, we go high.’”
Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY), and former chair of the House Select Committee of the January 6 attacks on the Capitol, replied to Luntz’s complaint: “Well, when the party of Trump abandoned Lincoln, Reagan, and the Constitution, circumstances changed.”
Well, when the party of Trump abandoned Lincoln, Reagan, and the Constitution, circumstances changed. https://t.co/s5CL5LpFwA
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 26, 2024
Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois also responded, saying “After eight years of Trump, this is what you call ‘going low?’ This is an embarrassing tweet.” Walsh’s fellow former Illinois Republican Representative, Adam Kinzinger, wrote “Come on Frank.”
Luntz is referring to a famous Democratic moment, when First Lady Michelle Obama, speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, said she told her young daughters “that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country” and “that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, we don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is when they go low, we go high.”