Trump campaign temporarily pauses ad spending to rework messaging
Trump 2020 campaign national press secretary Hogan Gidley discusses the direction the new messaging.
Trump 2020 campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley pushed back Friday on claims presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden does not want to "defund" law enforcement.
During an appearance on "The Story," Gidley said Biden only appearns in public when he "pops his head out of his hidey-hole hole every once in a while to say 'defund the police'."
The Trump campaign has accused Biden of embracing the left-wing movement to defund law enforcement since liberal activist Ady Barkan asked the former vice president in a July 8 interview if he would "agree that we can redirect some [police] funding?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Biden answered.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN TAKES BRIEF PAUSE ON TV ADVERTISING
When host Trace Gallagher pointed out that Biden never explicitly endorsed defunding the police, but rather "called for reallocating [resources]," Gidley was unmoved.
"He said 'redirect' ... If you don't think that 'redirect' is the same thing as 'defund', then let me 'redirect' your next paycheck into my bank account," the spokesman told Gallagher said. "It's the exact same thing."
Gidley also explained the Trump campaign's decision to briefly pause its advertising in order to rework its message. A campaign source told Fox News Friday that the campaign went dark on ads for a couple of days while new campaign manager Bill Stepien conducted a review of ad buys. The source added that the Trump campaign would be back up with ads in several states on Monday.
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"When our [new] ads go up, you will see Joe Biden's 50-year failed career in elected office," Gidley told Gallagher, "but also that he is an empty vessel being filled by the socialist wing of the party, the Ilhan Omars, the Rashida Tlaibs, the Bernie Sanders, and that they are pulling him [that] direction [and] he's embracing it. Some of the plans he's putting out are not American at all."
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