Trump says Acton is ‘fair game,’ backs attack ad featuring her mother

We begin with a big shift on a controversial campaign ad. President Donald Trump now says Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican running for governor of Ohio, should keep running a contentious ad against Democrat Amy Acton, despite calls from both sides of the aisle to take it down. Remember this from yesterday? The fact is, I know nothing about it, but I hear the mother went very rogue on the daughter, doesn't have a lot of respect for for the daughter. It's a very unusual situation to have a mother hate a daughter that much, but I don't think that has anything to do with Vivek. That was Trump's initial reaction when asked about the ad, which features Acton's long estranged mother calling her daughter a liar and urging Ohioans not to vote for her. But here's what Trump said when asked about the ad again on Thursday. All I know is Amy Acton's mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, calling her a liar and other things, and unreliable, a lot of very bad things, and I say that she's fair game. He doubled down in a post on Truth Social saying Ramaswamy should keep running the ad. Trump said, quote, who wouldn't use such an ad? I would. It's called hitting pay dirt. He also blasted Ohio's Governor Mike DeWine, calling him a rhino, a Republican in name only. After DeWine joined calls for the ad to be taken down, calling it deeply troubling. So it's wrong to run this ad. And even at this late time, my wife Fran saw the ad run this morning on TV. I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to take this down. It's just wrong. DeWine stopped short of pulling support for Ramaswamy, though saying he'll continue to endorse the whole Republican ticket. Acton says she was sexually abused as a child by her mother's second husband, he was indicted on assault charges but never stood trial after skipping bail. A court terminated her mother's parental rights, and the women have not spoken or seen each other in almost five decades.