Jill Biden casts Donald Trump as a threat to women as she opens a tour of battleground states

ATLANTA (AP) — First lady Jill Biden warned Friday that returning Donald Trump to the White House would threaten women who already have watched the former president’s Supreme Court picks nix a federal right to abortion services.

Trump has “spent a lifetime tearing us down and devaluing our existence,” she said in Atlanta, where she launched a multistate battleground tour to highlight President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign outreach program aimed at women.

“I’ve been so proud of how Joe has placed women at the heart of his agenda,” the first lady said of her husband. She contrasted him to Trump, who she said “mocks women’s bodies, disrespects our accomplishments and brags about assault ” and, as recently as this week, took credit for “killing Roe v. Wade.”

It was an unusually pointed take-down from Jill Biden. She has long been a smiling, supportive advocate for her husband, often telling endearing stories about their marriage and family and her own career as an educator. Her remarks Friday signaled a more aggressive role in what is setting up to be a bitter rematch of the 2020 election. Women are likely to play a crucial role, especially in the relative handful of states that will determine the Electoral College outcome.

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