UPDATED: President Donald Trump again lashed out at a reporter, this time an NBC News correspondent who pressed him about his support for a Vivek Ramaswamy ad that has been condemned by Democrats and Republicans.
Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, is behind a new spot that debuted this week featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton. In the ad, Acton’s mother says that she doesn’t trust her daughter, saying she “lies about her past.”
Unmentioned in the spot are allegations that Acton’s stepfather, now deceased, sexually abused her when she was a child. According to the AP, the stepfather was charged with raping her but did not show up at a court hearing and was deemed a fugitive. Acton’s brother said that at the time, he and his sister were removed from their mother’s custody as she remained with their stepfather.
Referring to the Ramaswany ad, Trump on Friday said, “A mother is saying, ‘Don’t put my daughter there because she’s a terrible person and she’s a liar. Why shouldn’t somebody use that?”
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NBC News’ Monica Alba then asked him, “But do the sexual abuse allegations mean nothing to you?” Trump went on, but Alba continued to ask the question.
“Who are you with?” he asked her.
“I am with NBC sir,” she responded.
“One of the worst networks you have,” he said.
She continued to ask about the sexual abuse allegations, and Trump told her, “Quiet.”
“Isn’t she a fresh person? You’re a horrible little reporter, aren’t you?” Trump said.
Trump said, “If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so. But my mother thought I was wonderful.” He looked up in the air and said, “Thank you, Mom.”
He said of Acton’s mother, “She said her daughter is a disaster. Her daughter is a liar. And she felt she had a obligation … I should be so lucky to have an ad like that.”
He then asked Alba, “Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother that says that? Why? Miss NBC, why wouldn’t you, listen.”
Alba responded, “She stayed with her stepfather.”
“I don’t know anything about her stepfather,” Trump said.
President Trump on political ad against Amy Acton (D-OH): “If my mother said bad things about me, do you think the Democrats would put it up? I think so — but my mother thought I was wonderful… Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother who says that?” pic.twitter.com/mrfuigQbEH
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 23, 2026
Republicans including Ohio’s current governor, Mike DeWine, have said that Ramaswamy should pull the spot. “It’s wrong. It needs to be taken down,” DeWine said of the ad Thursday. Nikki Haley, who clashed with Ramaswamy during the 2024 GOP presidential debates, posted on X, “Just seeing what we tried to tell everyone back then. He’s a bad guy. It’s a shame he continues to get away with it.”
Trump’s outburst at a reporter is only the latest this week. He berated Andrew Feinberg, correspondent for The Independent, and later the White House pulled him from travel pool duty. Trump also lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and a reporter for ABC News as they asked him questions.
Later, after Trump landed in Florida for a campaign swing, Trump said that he told the Justice Department to file a lawsuit demanding that Alaska be prohibited from certifying its election results if Mary Peltola, a Democrat, wins over Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent. The DOJ is contesting the presence of a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot.