On the Campaign Trail

U.S. Elections 2024

By Heather Timmons, White House and campaign editor

Welcome back to the campaign trail. Imagine America as it was eight years ago, before COVID-19, the George Floyd protests, the #MeToo movement, the reversal of Roe v. Wade – before either Donald Trump or Joe Biden was ever president.

That's where prosecutors in Trump's hush money trial took jurors as they made their closing arguments this week.

For latest updates on the verdict, follow along with the Reuters live blog.

Latest election headlines

Turn back time

"We'll never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter impacted the election" in 2016, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury, but he said jurors didn't need to know that to reach a guilty verdict.

For their part, Trump's lawyers have suggested that the payment for a porn star's silence could have been intended to avoid embarrassing his family – not win in 2016. Trump has pleaded not guilty in this case, as well as in the other three criminal cases; he says all the state and federal charges against him are politically motivated.

I'm Heather Timmons, Reuters' White House and Biden campaign editor, part of the team covering this year's presidential, congressional and other races. As jury deliberations in the first trial of a former American president continue into a second day on Thursday, the verdict's potential impact in November looms large.

One in four Republicans said in April they wouldn't vote for Trump if he was convicted of a felony. However, weeks of lurid details haven't shaken his lead over Biden in many polls, particularly in battleground states. Even former Republican primary rival and tough critic Nikki Haley now says she's voting for Trump. And strategists say an acquittal could give him a big boost.

A conviction won't prevent the Republican ex-president from running – and may not put him behind bars.

No matter what the jury decides, the Biden campaign isn't banking on Trump loyalists changing their minds, and plans to tell supporters after the verdict "the only way to beat Trump is at the ballot box." The Democratic president has held a series of small events with voters, sometimes at family homes, where the campaign says his one-on-one skills shine, and may become a viral social media moment too.

Biden's campaign also enlisted actor Robert De Niro to stand outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan – flanked by police officers who had been on duty during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by Trump supporters – and call Trump a "clown." De Niro described America's political situation as "crazy."

"We're in the crazy zone," he said as he left the chaotic scene he'd just been part of. Trump's hush money trial may be the only one of his four criminal cases to go to trial before Nov. 5.

Biden has his own potential legal/political nightmare ahead. Jury selection begins on Monday for the criminal trial of his son, Hunter, on gun charges, a new first in American history.

Poll of the week

Fact check of the week

"This was the Trump rally today in the Bronx, NY!!!" read social media posts featuring an aerial photograph of an urban park filled with a huge crowd. Except the photo shows Pope Francis' 2015 visit to Manila in the Philippines.

Geographic markers and other photographs from the pope's visit helped us confirm the photograph is many years old. Meanwhile, genuine images from Trump's New York event show a much smaller gathering. Read the full story.

In this section, the Reuters fact-checking team addresses misinformation connected to the U.S. elections. Find more fact-checks from around the world here.

Photo from the trail

Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump argue and scuffle with supporters of U.S. President Joe Biden outside the Manhattan criminal court during jury deliberations in Trump's criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in New York City, U.S. May 29, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar

What to watch for

June 3: Jury selection begins in Hunter Biden trial
June 4: New Jersey Democrats pick a challenger to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez
June 5, 6: Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris fundraise in San Francisco
June 6: Biden marks D-Day's 80th anniversary in Normandy, France

The who, what and when

Find up-to-date elections coverage, interactive data and more on Reuters.com.

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