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Biden smile on Trump's 'political prisoner' claim makes campaign video

It took less than three hours for the Trump campaign to turn this moment — as President Biden left the State Dining Room on Friday after speaking on the Middle East — into a campaign video.

The big picture: The video was created the day after a New York jury found former President Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.


State of play: At 1:42 p.m. on Friday, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell shouted as Biden walked out: "Mr. President, can you tell us, sir: Donald Trump refers to himself as a political prisoner and blames you directly. What's your response to that, sir?"

  • Biden didn't say anything, but turned to the press pool and made the face captured in this story's lead photo.
  • An in-house Trump campaign team added horror music, and put the video in slow-mo.
  • At 4:21 p.m., campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita tweeted the video and labeled it "The face of corruption" — a phrase you'll hear again.

Reality check: Despite what Trump and GOP officials keep saying, he was convicted in a New York State court that Biden has nothing to do with.

What we're watching: Axios co-founder Mike Allen asked a Trump official if the campaign might use the video as a paid ad.

  • "We might," the official said with a chuckle. "Because we're gonna raise a lotta money off it."

Go deeper: Trump campaign's donation site crashes after guilty verdict

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