Trump campaign plans $1 million advertising attack after Biden’s black voters comment
“You’ve got more questions?” Biden replied. “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Charlemagne responded that “it don’t have nothing to do with Trump. It has to do with the fact” that he wants something to benefit the African American community.
In the phone call Friday with reporters and Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson, Scott said he was “shocked and surprised” by Biden’s comment.
“I could not believe my ears, that he would stoop so low to tell folks what they should do, how they should think and what it means to be black,” Scott said.
A campaign official on background told CNN these new round of advertisements will be digital only and come in two different forms — a video montage centered around Biden’s comments. That will run nationally.
The ads will appear on an array of platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and Google.
Later on Friday afternoon, Biden addressed his comments in a call with the US Black Chamber of Commerce, saying, “I shouldn’t have been so cavalier” and insisting he doesn’t take black voters for granted.
“The bottom line of all of this perhaps I was much too cavalier. I know that the comments have come off like I was taking the African American vote for granted but nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve never, ever done that and I’ve earned it every time I’ve run,” he said.
“I was making the point that I never take the vote for granted and in fact I know in order to win the presidency, I need the African American vote,” Biden said. “I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy. I shouldn’t have been so cavalier.”
Charlamagne said during an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday night that the former vice president’s comments were “just a shock coming from an old white man like Joe Biden.”
He called Biden “a very intricate part” of the legal system disenfranchising black Americans. He cited Biden’s role in legislation such as the 1994 crime bill.
Biden’s win in the Democratic primary was fueled primarily by his support from African American voters, particularly older ones, who catapulted him to the win in South Carolina that set the stage for Biden to all but end the race in the following weeks.
CNN’s Eric Bradner, Sarah Mucha, Arlette Saenz and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
