Biden says Trump will ban abortion: ‘Nobody trusts Donald Trump’

CHICAGO — President Joe Biden on Monday lashed out at Donald Trump’s announcement that abortion should be left to the states and warned of the consequences if Trump were to win in November.

“Nobody trusts Donald Trump,” Biden said, pointing to how the former president made a “political deal” with anti-abortion rights.

The president went on to say that his predecessor’s lack of support for a national ban was illusory. “If they put one on his desk, he said he would sign it.”

Biden made his comments at a high-profile fundraiser in Chicago with about 50 friends and donors, including Bill Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

Biden’s campaign was ready to confront Trump on abortion shortly after posting his announcement on his social media platform Monday morning. Democrats have been warning for months that abortion will take center stage in the general election, and the former president’s announcement gave them a new reason to talk about the issue.

“Trump is in trouble and he knows it. Today he released a video addressing the abortion issue,” Biden said at the event in Chicago. “He’s afraid voters will hold him responsible for the overthrow Roe v. Wadeand for the brutality and chaos it has caused… Voters will hold him responsible for the extreme six-week bans.”

Earlier in the day, the Biden campaign also released a new digital advertisement which spotlighted a Texas woman who suffered a miscarriage and nearly died after doctors in the state refused to perform an abortion.

“Trump did this,” the campaign said in a message on Biden’s account.

The campaign also hosted a press call earlier in the day with Kaitlyn Kash, another Texas woman who was forced to leave the state for an abortion after learning her baby had a serious condition and would likely not survive birth.

The Chicago fundraiser was co-hosted by asset manager Michael Sacks and Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts, along with their spouses.

Both are major donors to Democrats, and Sacks heads the host committee for the Democratic National Convention, which will also be held in Chicago. The event was expected to raise $2.5 million for the Biden Action Fund, which provides input to the Biden for President campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Guests also included media director and Democratic donor Fred Eychaner, along with Assemblyman Pritzker, wife of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who could not attend because he was in southern Illinois to view the eclipse.

The guests sat in an art-filled room in Sacks’ apartment building just off Michigan Avenue as protesters outside railed against the war between Israel and Hamas — though their voices could not be heard from inside.

Biden landed in Chicago right after the solar eclipse and after speaking in Wisconsin about a new plan, he announced to help people pay off their student loans.

Across the country, Democrats moved quickly to capitalize on the opening Trump provided in a nearly four-and-a-half-minute video in which the former president took credit for the stripping Rooand argued that individual states should determine when and how hard to restrict access to abortion.

Before the announcement, Trump was under intense pressure to take a clear position, after weeks of toying with approving a blanket 15-week ban. The former president has privately worried that the issue is politically toxic for Republicans, especially if they don’t support exemptions for maternal life and health.

Biden, despite showing some discomfort in talking about abortion in the past, has repeatedly vowed to recover Roe v. Wade with legislation if given the chance. He has portrayed the election as an existential moment for women’s reproductive freedoms. That position also marked a sharp contrast with Trump and Republicans, who have struggled for nearly two years to find a sustainable consensus on where they stand after the Supreme Court ruling. Dobbs decision.

Adam Cancryn and Elena Schneider contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: The original article incorrectly stated Sacks’ occupation.