President Trump’s allies are continuing their attacks on U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, as a “Super PAC” aligned with the president bought substantial air time this week in Montana for an ad lambasting the Democratic senator.
America First Action produced the ad, which labels Tester as “disgraceful” and “disgusting” for his actions involving Trump’s nominee to head the Veterans Affairs Department.
The website Politico reported that the Super PAC bought $344,000 of air time for the ad on cable and traditional TV stations across the state. It begins airing this week.
The president began directly attacking Tester late last week, after Tester made public allegations of improper behavior by VA secretary nominee Ronny Jackson, who is a Navy physician and the personal doctor for the president.
Jackson then withdrew his name from consideration as VA secretary.
Trump has said Tester should resign, that Tester’s action “will cause him a lot of problems in his state,” and that Trump “knows things about Tester that I could say, too,” without specifying what those things are.
Tester is up for re-election this year to a third consecutive term.
Tester’s campaign on Wednesday released a statement that said he’s been “relentless” in his work to bring accountability to the VA Health System.
“Veterans across Montana want Tester to keep working to fix the VA so they get the better health care they were promised and earned,” said campaign spokesman Chris Meagher. “And that includes asking tough questions.”
The ad accuses Tester of spreading “false information” about Jackson, helping “D.C. Democrat derail” Jackson’s nomination, and of being part of the “D.C. swamp” and betraying the president.
