Donald Trump legal woes escalate as he attempts to win back the Midwestern vote

ITV News' US Correspondent Robert Moore has the latest as union workers were joined by Joe Biden, the first US President to join a picket line, in Michigan

Donald Trump arrives here in Michigan later tonight, attempting to gain traction in this critical Midwestern battleground state.

The areas around Detroit are being impacted by a strike that has brought much of America’s iconic car industry to a halt.

So the question becomes whether Trump or Biden will best defend the American worker in an era of rapid change. It is a question that could be pivotal in next year’s election.

The trouble for Trump is that every time he tries to portray Joe Biden’s policies as an economic disaster, a new legal case ensnares him and changes the national conversation.

US Correspondent Robert Moore reports live from Michigan

The latest challenge facing Trump is a civil case that alleges he has grossly inflated the value of his New York properties and therefore that his businesses are founded on a fraud.

A New York state judge has ridiculed Trump’s effort to dismiss the case and it will now go to trial.

The civil action may not as dramatic as the 91 federal charges he faces, but it has the potential to be a huge blow to the Trump empire.

Prosecutors are circling around him everywhere he looks, even as Trump dominates the Republican nomination contest.

The weakness of Trump is matched only by the political frailties of Biden.

Joe Biden was here yesterday and he stood on a picket line in a show of solidarity with striking auto workers. It was a compelling image.

But Biden - for all his talk of being the most pro-union president in US history - is not always popular here.

Some car workers speaking to ITV News were withering about the president and urged him to stay away, claiming that the only winners from Bidenomics and the green agenda are in China.

The truth is that both Biden and Trump are using the car workers as a photo-op for their own political purposes.

We have 405 more days to wait until election day. Both Biden and Trump claim they alone can save American manufacturing. The truth is much less flattering.

We have two elderly men fighting for the future, cynically using striking workers as a useful backdrop.

It’s not an uplifting image of America or of the upcoming presidential race.

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