New ads target Donald Trump as 'con artist'
After spending little to confront Republican front-runner Donald Trump during the first four nominating contests, at least four Republican-aligned outside groups now are hitting the real-estate mogul with attacks ads ahead of March contests.
Conservative Solutions Project, a super PAC supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is funding the latest round of Trump attacks. It’s running TV ads in Florida that question his business tactics and accuse Trump of knowing little about foreign policy.
A poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University shows Trump leading Rubio 44-28 in the senator’s home state. Florida votes March 15.
The super PAC also is paying for Snapchat geo-filters in Virginia that tag Trump as a “con artist” and highlight his now-defunct real-estate investment school when users in the state employ the messaging app. Virginia is among the 11 states holding GOP nominating contests Tuesday, and Rubio was slated to campaign in the state Sunday.
Conservative Solutions spokesman Jeff Sadosky said the new ads, first reported by The New York Times, are part of a “significant multi-state multi-million dollar ad campaign.”
The super PAC ended January will far less money in the bank than the outside groups helping Rubio rival, Sen. Ted Cruz. Rubio, however, has capitalized on Jeb Bush’s departure from the race to rack up endorsements from top Republican fundraisers.
Sadosky would not say how much the super PAC has collected in recent days, but he told USA TODAY the group is now “in a place where we're hopeful we'll be able to fully fund our March campaigns.”
Other organizations recently have moved to target Trump. On Friday, American Future Fund, a non-profit group that does not have disclose its donors, launched a $3 million campaign. Its first ads single out Trump University, the mogul’s real-estate investment school, which no longer operates and faces three lawsuits.
One lawsuit, filed by New York’s Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman contends the school “intentionally misled” thousands of people to pay as much as $35,000 each to learn Trump’s real-estate investment techniques.
Trump has called the litigation a “small deal” that he could settle but wants to fight as a matter of principle. Trump's attorney Alan Garten has said many of the students who attended the program were happy with the courses.
The anti-tax Club for Growth and Our Principles PAC also have hit Trump with negative ads in recent days.
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