Obama calls on South Carolina TV stations to pull ad ‘straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook’

Obama calls on South Carolina TV stations to pull ad ‘straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook’

The Washington Post reports:

Former president Barack Obama is calling on South Carolina television stations to stop running an ad from a super PAC supporting President Trump that uses Obama’s words out of context in a misleading attack on former vice president Joe Biden.

The Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Trump group, reported to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday spending more than $250,000 in South Carolina to oppose Biden.

The group, which placed a similar amount of anti-Biden advertising in Nevada earlier this month, circulated an ad that falsely suggests that words Obama spoke in the narration of his own book were meant to describe Biden.

“This despicable ad is straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook, and it’s clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama’s voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers,” said Katie Hill, Obama’s communications director. “In the interest of truth in advertising, we are calling on TV stations to take this ad down and stop playing into the hands of bad actors who seek to sow division and confusion among the electorate.”

Hill said Obama has “several friends” in the Democratic presidential primary and has “no plans to endorse in the primary.” [Continue reading…]

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