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Ohio voter on Ramaswamy ad The ugliest thing I've seen in my lifetime · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Trump defending the indefensible, today doubling down again and again
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  Speaker 1: and again on his defense of Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring
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  Speaker 1: the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. In
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  Speaker 1: the ad, Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, accuses her daughter of
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  Speaker 1: being a liar and says she's not fit for office.
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  Speaker 1: Acton's mother is the same woman... The same mother who
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  Speaker 1: fled Ohio along with her husband after a grand jury
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  Speaker 1: indicted him for sexually abusing Acton when she was a child.
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  Speaker 2: A pedophile.
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  Speaker 1: Yet, this is what the president of the United States
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  Speaker 1: said today.
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  Speaker 3: I know nothing about it. All I know is the
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  Speaker 3: mother said very bad things about Acton, who I guess
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  Speaker 3: is running for governor against Vivek. And all I can
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  Speaker 3: say is Vivek is great.
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  Speaker 4: Why did you.
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  Speaker 5: Make no mention of the sexual.
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  Speaker 6: Abuse allegations that Amy Acton made against her stepfather who
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  Speaker 6: stayed married to her mother?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I have no idea.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know the mother.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know her. I never heard of her until
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  Speaker 3: just recently as somebody running for governor of Ohio. Wait
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  Speaker 3: a minute. The mother made a horrible statement about the daughter.
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  Speaker 6: I don't know what the daughter said.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. Her stepmother, her mother.
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  Speaker 6: Remained married to her stepmother who sexually abused her.
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  Speaker 3: Well, when did she make that statement? Was it just recently?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I have no idea. All I know is
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  Speaker 3: Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton.
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  Speaker 5: That is an unbelievable exchange.
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  Speaker 1: And there was more before Trump even went before the
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  Speaker 1: cameras and took those questions, you know, saying.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know anything about it.
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  Speaker 1: He fired off a more than 400 word rant online,
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  Speaker 1: repeating many of the same talking points.
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  Speaker 5: And he also brought his own mother into it.
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  Speaker 1: Writing, if my mother, the legendary Mary McLeod Trump, said
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  Speaker 1: anything bad about me, the fake news would play it up.
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  Speaker 1: Going on to say the press is trying to convince
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  Speaker 1: everyone that this ad is bad because it's so good.
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  Speaker 5: Who wouldn't use such an ad?
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  Speaker 2: I would.
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  Speaker 5: Well, that's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: So he just said that he would use an ad
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  Speaker 1: where someone whose husband was charged with raping their own
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  Speaker 1: daughter when she was under 12.
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  Speaker 5: He would use that ad. That's that's incredible.
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  Speaker 1: The list of Republicans condemning Ramaswamy for the ad is
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  Speaker 1: growing tonight. Iowa Republican Senate hopeful Ashley Hinson, any moment
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  Speaker 1: she'll be appearing alongside Trump, actually, told ABC News, I
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  Speaker 1: think it's absolutely terrible they should take the ad down.
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  Speaker 1: She went on to say the ad is forcing Ramaswamy's
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  Speaker 1: Democratic opponent to relive childhood trauma and that it's inexcusable.
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  Speaker 5: And that's really crucial, too.
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  Speaker 1: Forcing someone to relive the childhood trauma of being raped
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  Speaker 1: by their stepfather. That's disgusting.
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  Speaker 5: It's inexcusable. So what's Trump's response? Well, it's her opinion.
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  Speaker 5: It's also the opinion of many others. Decent people.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio's Governor Mike DeWine called on Ramaswamy to remove the ad,
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  Speaker 1: calling it deeply troubling. Ohio Senator John Husted, who's in
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  Speaker 1: a tight race, saying he would not run the ad.
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  Speaker 1: Former Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman told Politico it crosses
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  Speaker 1: the line. I hope the ad will be taken down
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  Speaker 1: and the final days of the campaign will focus on
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  Speaker 1: policy differences. Instead, this story is consuming headlines and day
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  Speaker 1: after day because when Trump comes out and double and
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  Speaker 1: triples down on it, well, there it is. It's putting
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  Speaker 1: Republicans in tight races in uncomfortable positions at a time
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  Speaker 1: when millions of people are already voting.
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  Speaker 5: At this hour, nearly 20 million.
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  Speaker 1: People have already voted, and that includes Iowa, where the
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  Speaker 1: president is tonight.
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  Speaker 5: 167,000 people have voted early there. More than half of
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  Speaker 5: them registered Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: And it's why so many Republicans are reportedly furious with Ramaswamy,
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  Speaker 1: because this is what's become Trump's closing message with just
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  Speaker 1: 12 days before the election. defending an ad and saying
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  Speaker 1: that it's so great he would run it, an ad
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  Speaker 1: using someone's mother who fled the state with her husband
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  Speaker 1: after he was charged with raping her daughter. So the
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  Speaker 1: question is, what are voters saying about it? What are
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  Speaker 1: voters thinking about it? Lauren Fox is out front in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Like, why?
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  Speaker 4: Why?
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  Speaker 7: Why?
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  Speaker 6: And I don't know what his angle was.
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  Speaker 5: Like, is that speaking to anyone?
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  Speaker 6: She is a liar. A brutal political ad from gubernatorial
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  Speaker 6: candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is dividing the Republican Party and voters
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  Speaker 6: in Ohio.
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  Speaker 4: At this point, with what I know, I would probably
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  Speaker 4: lean toward acting.
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  Speaker 6: Do you think that that ad might backfire for Ramaswamy?
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  Speaker 4: I think the ad is definitely going to backfire, particularly
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  Speaker 4: with women.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's going to be some problems for Vivek
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  Speaker 3: and also potentially the Republican Party across the board.
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  Speaker 6: Even in an era of hyper-partisanship, the ad featuring Acton's
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  Speaker 6: estranged mother calling her a liar has struck a nerve.
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  Speaker 7: I couldn't believe it, and the fact that he hasn't
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  Speaker 7: disowned it is beyond my comprehension.
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  Speaker 4: It really is.
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  Speaker 7: It's the ugliest thing I've seen in pretty much my lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: It's heinous and horrible, and I just, I think... I
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  Speaker 2: don't care if Ramaswami's policies are the best. That shows
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  Speaker 2: just a judgment of character that I don't want to
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  Speaker 2: see anymore.
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  Speaker 6: Acton's mother lost custody of her and her brother when
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  Speaker 6: she was just 12 years old, and her stepfather was
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  Speaker 6: indicted by a grand jury of sexually abusing her.
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  Speaker 8: I had a childhood of extreme physical abuse and sexual abuse.
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  Speaker 8: As a kid, my brother and I, frequent flyers in
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  Speaker 8: children's services, finally removed the after a grand jury, saw
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  Speaker 8: evidence that was so, so shocking that we were removed
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  Speaker 8: from my mother's custody.
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  Speaker 6: The ad comes as voters here say they want their
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  Speaker 6: leaders more focused on the economy and less on personal attacks.
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  Speaker 4: Talk about the plans you have to make grocery costs
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  Speaker 4: go down, to make gas prices go down, to do
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  Speaker 4: something about the tariffs and how they're charging us more
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  Speaker 4: money at the grocery store. Don't talk about people's parents.
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  Speaker 6: One Republican operative told CNN that Republican officials in the
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  Speaker 6: state are furious at Ramaswamy for airing it at a
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  Speaker 6: moment when the party is trying desperately to guard against
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  Speaker 6: a Democratic comeback in November.
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  Speaker 5: The ad.
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  Speaker 7: On his face is deeply, deeply troubling. But when you
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  Speaker 7: know the rest of the story, When you know the
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  Speaker 7: back story, it makes it just more wrong.
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  Speaker 6: Governor DeWine is a Republican who is sticking with Ramaswamy,
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  Speaker 6: despite hating the ad. Acton holds a six-point lead over
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  Speaker 6: her Republican rival, according to the CNN poll of polls
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  Speaker 6: in Ohio. Republicans in the state probably couldn't be more
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  Speaker 6: pissed at him, the source told CNN. President Trump sees
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  Speaker 6: it differently.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know what it is, but I guess the
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  Speaker 3: mother said very bad things about the one who's running
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  Speaker 3: for governor. And I think you have to take that seriously.
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  Speaker 6: That message may be resonating with some Republican voters.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think it reflects well on Amy Acton, but
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  Speaker 1: I also don't think it reflects well on her mother.
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  Speaker 5: It's a messy situation. And Lauren is with me now.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Lauren, it's so important just to hear as
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about that and early voting is in progress, right?
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  Speaker 1: You had an undecided voter there say, regardless of Ramaswamy's policies,
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  Speaker 1: the ad is a judgment of character, right? That policy aside,
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  Speaker 1: you can't get past the character aspect. How often did
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  Speaker 1: that sentiment come up in your conversations with voters today?
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  Speaker 6: I mean, this is a really tight gubernatorial race here
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  Speaker 6: in the critical state of Ohio. And I heard over
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  Speaker 6: and over again that this ad was having a definitive
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  Speaker 6: moment right now for voters in their minds as they
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  Speaker 6: are attempting to consider whether or not they are going
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  Speaker 6: to vote for the Republican or the Democrat in this race.
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  Speaker 6: And I talked to several independents who said that they
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  Speaker 6: were really right now on the knife's edge on which
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  Speaker 6: way they were going to go. And the more that
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  Speaker 6: they thought about it, the more they thought that central
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  Speaker 6: issue of character really mattered. I think it's really important
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  Speaker 6: to point out that people are tired right now. They
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  Speaker 6: feel like partisanship has gone too far. And a lot
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  Speaker 6: of people want to return to a time where maybe
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  Speaker 6: they didn't always agree with the other side, but there
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  Speaker 6: is a civil discourse in conversation. And I think that
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  Speaker 6: that is the overarching message I heard today from Republicans,
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  Speaker 6: from Democrats and from independents.