Trump defends Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother, calls NBC reporter who raised abuse allegations ‘horrible’
He has made his opinions clear
Last week, an ad from Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy began circulating, drawing heavy criticism from both parties. It features Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, saying her daughter has “lied her entire life” and telling viewers, “Don’t vote for people who lie.”
The ad omitted the context of Acton and Arthur’s relationship, as Al Jazeera noted. Arthur lost custody of her children after her husband, Acton’s stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton. He fled the state with Acton’s mother before trial and never appeared before a judge. He died in 2004.
Ramaswamy has defended the ad, saying it had nothing to do with childhood abuse. “The irony is they’re lying about an ad that is about lying,” he said. Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, said Ramaswamy should take the ad down.
Trump called the NBC reporter a ‘horrible little reporter’
Amid the growing controversy, NBC reporter Monica Alba asked President Donald Trump to weigh in. “A mother is saying, ‘Don’t put my daughter there because she’s a terrible person and she’s a liar.’ Why shouldn’t somebody use that?” Trump said. Alba then asked, “But do the sexual abuse allegations mean nothing to you, sir?”
Trump did not answer directly. He asked which outlet she represented, and when she said NBC, he replied, “One of the worst networks.” As Alba pressed further, Trump told her, “Quiet!” Speaking to someone else and referring to her, he said, “Isn’t she a fresh person?” Then, turning back to Alba, he said, “You’re a horrible little reporter, aren’t you?” When Alba noted that Arthur had stayed with the stepfather, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about a stepfather.”
It is not the first time Trump has gone after a female reporter during a press gaggle. Last November, he told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey, “Quiet, piggy,” when she tried to ask him a question.
Trump says his mother would never have spoken about him that way
Trump went on to say that his late mother would never have spoken about him the way Arthur spoke about Acton. “If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so. But my mother thought I was wonderful,” he said. He then looked up and said, “Thank you, Mom.”
Speaking about Arthur, Trump added, “She said her daughter is a disaster. Her daughter is a liar. And she felt she had an obligation … I should be so lucky to have an ad like that.” Trump then asked Alba, “Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother that says that? Why? Miss NBC, why wouldn’t you listen?”
According to Al Jazeera’s reporting, archival documentation from the period when Acton made her statement corroborates key elements of her account of her early life. Al Jazeera also reported that FactCheck.org found additional documentation connecting her stepfather to the campground where Acton said her family lived in a tent, contradicting Arthur’s claim that they never lived there. Acton has called the ad “despicable.”
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