"Trump should fight Democrats, not lie about Governor DeSantis,"
the ad stated. "What happened to Donald Trump?"
Former president Trump launched a bid for the 2024 Republican
nomination in November and polls show he is leading the field of
declared and as-yet undeclared candidates. DeSantis, who is
expected to launch a run, is in second position in polls.
Never Back Down, the Super PAC backing DeSantis, released the ad
titled "Fight Democrats, not Republicans" online and on "Fox
News Sunday."
The ad begins with a reference to Trump's legal troubles in New
York.
"Donald Trump has been attacked by a Democrat prosecutor in New
York. So why is he spending millions attacking the Republican
governor of Florida?"
Trump pleaded not guilty in Manhattan on April 4 to 34 felony
counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money
payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels. He was questioned on
Thursday in a separate $250 million business fraud lawsuit
brought by the state's attorney general.
Make American Great Again, the major Super PAC aligned with
Trump, has already attacked DeSantis in ads.
Its latest release on Friday referenced a Daily Beast report
that DeSantis ate chocolate pudding with his fingers while on a
flight from Tallahassee to Washington in 2019.
"DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements,
like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising
our retirement age," the ad said. "Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his
pudding fingers off our money."
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in early April showed 48% of Republicans
saying they want Trump to be their party's presidential nominee
in 2024, with 19% supporting DeSantis. (This story has been
refiled to correct a typographical error in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Scott Malone and
Chizu Nomiyama)
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