Biden homes in on policy as Trump indictment gets attention

By Colleen Long and Josh Boak Associated

President Joe Biden ventured to suburban Minneapolis on Monday to talk about factory jobs and contrast his agenda with “the last guy who had this job.” The “last guy,” as Biden calls Donald Trump, was simultaneously touching down in New York to become the first former president to be arrested. The Biden White House, which has shied away from involvement in the legal spectacle surrounding Trump, hoped to turn the splitscreen moment into a chance to showcase the president’s accomplishments and relatively drama-free administration. It represented a rehash of the choice that voters made in 2020

— and might have to make again in 2024 — as both men intend to seek the White House.

Biden offered himself as a veteran policymaker while Trump, ever the showman, aimed to use Tuesday’s arraignment on criminal charges to generate campaign donations and fire up Republican voters.

Biden sought to highlight job growth and investments nationwide while pushing clean energy and manufacturing in the U.S. during his visit to engine maker Cummins Inc. The company announced in conjunction with his visit that it’s investing more than $1 billion in its U.S. engine manufacturing network in Indiana, North Carolina and New York to update facilities so they can produce low- to zero-carbon engines.

Dogged by high inflation, Biden said his policies and spending will position the U.S. for greater prosperity in the future that boosts the middle class.

“The plan is to invest in America, in a literal sense,” Biden said. “Not overseas. In America. Invest in ourselves — and it’s working.”

Trump left his Florida home for New York City, posting on Truth Social that the indictment — tied to payments made during his 2016 campaign — was part of a “Witch Hunt” against him. He later sent out a message that tried to fundraise off his predicament.

Biden’s team saw Monday’s trip to the Cummins facility as a way to sharpen the contrast with Trump. If Trump gobbles up attention, administration officials say, Biden wants his message to be squarely focused on the American middle class.

“Stick to your message that you want to be talking about with discipline,” said Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary. “Whatever else is happening, you just have to keep talking about what it is that you want to talk about.”

The president regularly highlights the CHIPS Act, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the $1 trillion infrastructure legislation and a roughly $375 billion climate bill — major bills that his administration steered into law before Democrats lost control of the House in last year’s elections to Republicans.

The White House wants to contrast Biden’s record and a proposed budget that