Some United States Republicans are running so far away from their party’s nominee that they are threatening to sue TV stations for running ads that suggest they support Donald Trump.
Just two weeks before Election Day, five
Republicans ― Reps. Bob Dold (R-Ill.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), David
Jolly (R-Fla.), John Katko (R-N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick, a
Pennsylvania Republican running for an open seat that’s currently
occupied by his brother ― contend that certain commercials paid for by
the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee provide false or
misleading information by connecting them to the GOP nominee.
Trump is so terrible, these Republicans are essentially arguing, that tying them to him amounts to defamation.
All five Republicans have, at some
point, said they don’t support Trump. And all five have a bit of a case:
The DCCC ads do use some creativity to tie them to Trump.
It’s somewhat standard practice for
candidates to threaten TV stations with legal action in an effort to get
ads pulled. The Federal Communications Commission has said that
stations have some legal responsibility ― when dealing with ads from
independent groups ― to eliminate ads with “false, misleading, or
deceptive” content. But legal action is rare. Mostly, candidates count
on TV stations to take down such ads.
The DCCC says none of the stations pulled the spots, though some ads’ runs have already ended.
Either way, the ads all leave an
impression that the candidate they’re targeting supports Trump, even
when the candidate himself has said otherwise. Whether that’s misleading
enough for legal action is someone else’s call.
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