WATCH: Right-Wing Super PAC Tries to Tie Hillary and Trump Together in New Ad
An attack ad "not authorized by any candidate or candidates' committee" according to the TV spot, started airing in San Francisco yesterday. American Crossroads, the super PAC behind the ad, claims that Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's positions are similar, particularly on illegal immigration.
"I voted numerous times to build a barrier," Hillary Clinton says in the ad, echoing Donald Trump's statement, "We need to build a wall." In the video, when asked about the difference between her form of border protection and Trump's, she hesitates. The words "You can't trust Hillary Clinton" flash across the screen in the last shot.
Though the ad is an obvious attack on Hillary, it also draws on GOP candidates' claims that, due to his moderate stance on issues such as abortion and because he is from New York, Trump is secretly a Democrat.
The president of American Crossroads is Steven J. Law, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Labor for President George W. Bush, and the chairman of the board of directors is former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan. Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and Karl Rove, the former White House strategist who served as senior adviser to President George W. Bush, helped launch American Crossroads in 2010 and now serve as “informal advisers” and fundraisers, says the group’s spokesman, Jonathan Collegio.
Trump is a self-funded candidate and does not have a super PAC. He and the Clintons have a long history together. In 2008, during her first presidential run, he declared Hillary would make a great president. Additionally, before his own presidential campaign, Trump's charitable foundation actually gave more to the Clintons than to veterans' organizations.
Watch the attack ad below:
