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Trump Tells Iowa Rally He Encouraged Ramaswamy To Keep Acton Attack Ad Up
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Trump told supporters he encouraged Ramaswamy to keep the attack ad up. The ad features Amy Acton's estranged mother in Ohio governor race.
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Trump backs the ad
President Donald Trump defended Vivek Ramaswamy’s widely criticized campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dr Amy Acton, telling supporters in Iowa that he had personally encouraged Ramaswamy to keep running it.
Trump told the crowd, “I said, ‘You’ve got to ride with it’”, after he said Ramaswamy told him he was “getting killed in the press” because people wanted the ad taken down.
Trump also said, “Leave it up, and look upstairs and say, ‘Thank you God, very much’,” as he urged Republicans to keep the attack ad in place.
The ad depicts Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, saying Acton has lied about her past and her struggles growing up, and it has drawn criticism from Republicans including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Iowa GOP Senate candidate Rep. Ashley Hinson broke with Trump by saying, “I think it’s absolutely terrible, and I think they should take the ad down.”
Acton and Hinson react
Amy Acton called the Ramaswamy ad “despicable,” and she said, “This is despicable, what he's done.” Acton’s campaign response highlighted that the ad does not mention that Arthur’s husband was charged with raping Acton when she was a child and that Acton and her brother were then removed from Arthur's custody. Ashley Hinson told Jonathan Karl that the ad was “absolutely terrible” for Acton “to relive that trauma.”
Hinson also criticized Vice President JD Vance for defending the ad, saying, “It sends absolutely the wrong message.” Trump responded to Hinson’s condemnation by saying, “That's her opinion,” and he added, “This is a mother saying very bad things about her daughter.”
Legal and political stakes
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined the backlash by calling the ad “deeply, deeply troubling” and saying, “It's wrong to run this ad,” while he urged Ramaswamy to take it down.
The New York Times reported that Trump described the ad as “very powerful” and said everyone should “listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate.”
The New York Times also said the Ramaswamy campaign dismissed DeWine’s call as a double standard, with Connie Luck saying, “Voters shouldn’t buy it.”
CBS News reported that Trump told reporters he “know[s] nothing about it,” when asked why anyone should listen to the estranged mother’s claims.
The Guardian said Attorney general Todd Blanche did not rule out a scenario in which the justice department would try to block states from certifying midterm election results.
