Donald Trump says "The press is embarrassing themselves" while defending Ohio governor campaign ad
“The press is embarrassing themselves. You’re trying to take a horrible situation for a Democrat and make it look better. The mother said really bad things about a person that wants to be the Democrat governor of Ohio. The mother said terrible things. Anybody seeing that would say, ‘No way, I’m voting for her.’”
Reported October 23, 2026 by nbclosangeles.com. Checked word for word against that report.
On Friday outside the White House, President Donald Trump defended a $4 million advertisement from Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s Ohio gubernatorial campaign that features Amy Acton’s mother, from whom the Democratic candidate is estranged, calling her a liar. Asked whether learning that Acton has said her late stepfather sexually abused her changed his view, Trump kept backing the spot and accused reporters of trying to improve a Democrat’s difficult situation. He also dismissed the abuse history’s relevance and criticized an NBC News reporter. Ramaswamy says the ad concerns honesty, not abuse, while several Republicans—including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine—have urged its removal. Court records reported by NBC News show Acton’s stepfather was indicted in 1978 on a rape charge involving a child younger than 13. Acton says she has not spoken with her mother in almost 50 years.
- nbclosangeles.com ↗︎23 OCT 2026