President Biden returns to the campaign trail on Tuesday with a visit to his childhood hometown of Scranton to begin three consecutive days of campaigning in Pennsylvania. While the Democratic incumbent is holding events in the battleground state, his 2024 opponent, Donald Trump, is forced to spend the day in a New York City courtroom for the first ever criminal trial of a former president.
Biden plans to spend Tuesday night in Scranton before continuing to Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning. He is expected to then briefly visit the White House, but intends to return to Pennsylvania on Thursday, with an event in Philadelphia. Scranton, Biden’s first destination, blends the personal and political for Biden as he grew up in a three-story colonial home in the Green Ridge neighborhood. His family later moved to Delaware, the state Biden ultimately represented in the U.S. Senate.
Yesterday afternoon, 96 prospective jurors were sworn in but more than 50 of them were almost immediately excused for admitting they could not serve as impartial jurors. 'It’s a scam. It’s a political witch hunt,' Trump said after court adjourned Monday. Judge Juan Merchan, who Trump has repeatedly criticized as being partisan and serving the interest of Democrats, addressed Trump directly before calling the prospective jurors into the courtroom.