President Donald Trump again defended a hard-hitting campaign ad from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton.
“Well, I know nothing about it,” Trump insisted before arguing that the advertisement was fair game.
He suggested the media would have aggressively covered the story if his own mother had criticized him.
“I’m defending it because I know that if that ad were about my mother, you would love it. You would love every inch of it,” Trump said.
Ramaswamy has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over the ad, which features Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur. Arthur remained married to Acton’s stepfather after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was a child.
Acton and her brother were removed from Arthur’s custody, and Acton has been estranged from her mother since she was 12.
In the advertisement, Arthur calls her daughter a “liar” and accuses her of lying about her past, including the claim that “she grew up living in a tent.”
Arthur then urged Ohio voters to reject Acton at the ballot box.
President Donald Trump again defended a controversial campaign advertisement from GOP Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during a gaggle with reporters Thursday afternoon
Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s (left) campaign released an ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur (right), who stayed married to Acton’s stepfather after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton as a child
Speaking on the South Lawn, Trump was asked why voters should give weight to the comments of a woman who has not spoken with her daughter in nearly 50 years.
“All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton, who I guess is running for governor against Vivek. And all I can say is Vivek is great,” Trump replied. “And I know one thing: if my mother said bad things about me, it would be a major news story, that’s for sure.”
Trump argued that voters should take Arthur’s allegations seriously if she had made negative claims about her daughter.
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When asked whether anything in politics should be considered off-limits, Trump once again invoked his mother, Mary MacLeod Trump.
“I know one thing: if my mother said that about me, it would be—you would have hit goals,” he told reporters. “You would have been very happy about it.”
“So I know nothing about it other than the mother said horrible things about a person who’s running for governor of a great state, right? A great state. And if it’s even a little bit true, you don’t want her as governor,” Trump said.
He also accused the media of working in coordination with Acton’s campaign, saying that was the reason Ramaswamy was facing backlash over the advertisement.
“The only problem is the press has decided to unify and act like it’s a horrible thing,” Trump argued.
Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton has moved ahead of Vivek Ramaswamy in most polls as Democrats try to return Ohio to the swing-state column
Trump made a similar argument in a Truth Social post earlier Thursday afternoon.
There he complained about Ohio’s current Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who had told the Associated Press that he found the spot ‘deeply, deeply troubling.’
‘He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing,’ Trump grumbled about DeWine, who has previously broken with the President on several issues.
Ohio has been firmly in the Republican column since Trump first won in 2016, but Democrats this cycle appear to be getting it closer to bringing it back to swing state status.
The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Acton 3.6 percent ahead of Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump for President in the 2024 primary, before swiftly endorsing him after the Iowa caucuses.
In the Senate race, former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown – who lost his seat 2024 – has pulled ahead of Republican Senator Jon Husted in most polls.
The President will return to the state on Wednesday for another rally in Chillicothe.
