Trump Doubles Down on Ramaswamy Ad Featuring Amy Acton's Estranged Mother

President Donald Trump on Friday again stood behind a television ad from Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, even after Ohio’s Republican governor urged the campaign to pull it.

Trump took questions about the ad from reporters at the White House on Friday morning before boarding Marine One. Asked whether he had reconsidered his support after learning more about Acton’s family history, he said he had not. “No, it’s a mother speaking badly against Amy Acton,” Trump said, according to NBC News. He added, “If it were my mother speaking badly about me, you’d be making it the No. 1 story on the news.”

Told that Acton and her mother have not been in contact for many years, Trump replied, “I don’t care,” ABC News reported. He also said the ad has “nothing to do with a stepfather or anything else.” Asked about Republicans who have criticized the spot, Trump said, “They don’t know the facts.” NBC News reported that the president also called one of its reporters who pressed him on the issue a “horrible little reporter.”

What the ad says

The 60-second ad features Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter “a liar” and disputing Acton’s public account of her childhood. CBS News reported that the spot first circulated on social media on Monday before moving to television. Ramaswamy’s campaign has said it is putting $4 million behind the ad on broadcast and streaming platforms.

Acton has spoken publicly about her childhood and has said her mother’s second husband sexually abused her between the ages of 9 and 12. According to ABC News, court records and an interview Arthur gave show the stepfather faced criminal charges, entered a not guilty plea and then left the state with Acton’s mother before any trial, never going before a judge. He died in 2004. Acton has said she has not spoken with her mother since she was 12.

Acton’s campaign condemned the ad. Her brother, Philip Stearns, described it as a “despicable low,” CBS News reported.

Trump’s earlier comments

The president first weighed in on Thursday in a post on Truth Social, where he called the ad “very powerful” and said he had advised Ramaswamy to keep it on the air. “Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt,’” Trump wrote, according to CBS News. In the same post he criticized Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, as disloyal to the party.

DeWine told reporters on Thursday that the campaign should drop the spot. “It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said. “I would urge Ramaswamy’s campaign to take this down.” CBS News reported that DeWine did not withdraw his endorsement of Ramaswamy.

At a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday night, Trump said Ramaswamy had asked him for advice about the controversy. “I said, ‘You got to ride with it,’” Trump told the crowd, NBC News reported. Vice President JD Vance has also defended the ad.

Ramaswamy responds

Ramaswamy defended the spot on Friday morning at a bus tour stop in Strongsville, a Cleveland suburb. He accused the press of “lying about an ad that is about lying,” according to NBC News.

“It had nothing to do with childhood abuse, which I will be the No. 1 governor to prosecute when I am the governor of this state, because it is wrong,” Ramaswamy told supporters.

Ohio voters choose a new governor on Nov. 3.