Claims Osama Bin Laden 'Endorsed' Biden For President, New Trump Ad Charges

President Trump and his campaign have released an advertisement, saying Democratic nominee Joe Biden was endorsed by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Donald Trump Jr. surprised the president with the advertisement on his podcast and called it a father's day gift.

The Washington Post said the al-Qaida leader wanted to assassinate former President Barack Obama, which would have meant that then-Vice President Biden would become president.

“The reason for concentrating on them,” the al-Qaida leader reportedly explained, “is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make Biden take over the presidency. ... Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis."

Trump has been hammering Biden on foreign policy stances. In addition to the bin Laden advertisement, which was released Thursday, the president criticized Biden for opposing the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January.

“No one has been more wrong, more often than Biden,” Trump tweeted late Thursday. “He voted for the Iraq War, he supported the defense sequester that gutted our military, he opposed the mission to take out Osama bin Laden, he opposed killing Soleimani, he oversaw the rise of [the Islamic State], and he cheered the rise of China as a 'positive development' for America and the world.”

The president added: “If it were up to Joe, bin Laden and Soleimani would still be alive, ISIS would be still on the rampage, and China would now be the dominant power in the world — not America.”

Biden and his team also are ramping up their advertising efforts, focusing on Georgia and Iowa. The advertisement in Georgia targets Black voters, with one spot focusing on Democrats’ criminal justice reform proposals and plans to abolish private prisons. In Iowa, Biden’s campaign pushed a leadership-oriented narrative and outlined his plans to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

FiveThirtyEight’s most recent poll indicates Biden leading the president in Georgia, 49% to 46%, but trailing Trump in Iowa, 45% to 47%. Trump won both Iowa and Georgia in 2016.