Former President Trump is facing criticism for posting a video with an image of President Biden bound in the back of a pickup truck on Truth Social Friday.
The big picture: Democrats have framed the upcoming presidential election with frontrunners Biden and Trump as a choice between protecting democracy or destroying it.
What they're saying: Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told CNN: "Trump is regularly inciting political violence, and it's time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6."
The other side: Trump said in the video post that the footage was filmed Thursday on Long Island, where Trump attended the wake of a New York City police officer slain during a traffic stop.
- Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to the criticism on Saturday: "That picture was on the back of a pickup truck that was traveling down the highway," Cheung told CNN.
- He added unsubstantiated allegations that Democrats are "actually weaponizing the justice system" against Trump.
- Jury selection for Trump's New York hush money case, the first of his four criminal indictments, is set to begin on April 15.
Context: Republicans have spotlighted Biden's age, their interest in an impeachment inquiry into the president and his son Hunter Biden's tax case, but Trump pressed Saturday for the focus to remain on his campaign.
- "These Biden Trials, none of them, should be allowed to take place during my campaign," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Go deeper: Trump's RNC struggles in swing states as Biden's team grows
