They bill themselves as “the only Official Pro-Trump Super PAC,” and they’re closely tied to President Donald Trump.
America First Action’s chairwoman is former Trump cabinet member Linda McMahon, who was the Small Business Administrator. Its Communications Director, Kelly Sadler, served in the Trump White House as Special Assistant to the President. And former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was the group’s Senior Advisor and Spokesman, although his name no longer appears on its leadership page.
Now America First Action is demanding TV stations in key battleground states stop running a hard-hitting ad from an anti-Trump Super PAC that goes after the president for his poor performance and lies on the coronavirus pandemic, as The Hill reports.
Attorneys for America First Action say the ad (below), from Priorities USA is misleading. They claim the ad says Trump called the coronavirus a “hoax,” while they insist he did not.
“Priorities USA’s doctored footage is not only deceptive and misleading, but false,” say the attorneys.
The ad, called “Exponential Threat,” uses Trump’s own words.
“On behalf of our client, America First Policies, Inc., we formally demand that your station refuse to air this advertisement,” the lawyers say.
But Priorities USA says America First doesn’t “even have standing to complain about our ads and stations are immediately rejecting their complaint and are continuing to run the spot.”
“We stand by the facts in the ad and will continue to make sure that Donald Trump is held accountable for his words and actions that are making this crisis even worse,” says Priorities USA strategist Josh Schwerin.
Priorities USA is planning on spending $6 million to run the ad.
“The coronavirus,” Trump can be heard saying as the ad, which uses clips of Trump talking, opens. He then says: “This is their new hoax.”
“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
“When you have 15 people and within a couple of days is gonna be down to close to zero.”
“We really think we’ve done a great job in keeping it down to a minimum.”
“I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand.”
“No, I don’t take responsibility at all.”
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