Former President Donald Trump and his political action committee bought more than $104,000 in digital advertising on Facebook and Google in recent weeks, capitalizing on his indictment in New York, according to a report.
Axios reports that the ads, like his strategy in the 2020 campaign, are being used to sell merchandise related to his indictment in Manhattan last week on charges that he falsified business records while furthering another undisclosed crime with a 2016 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair they had years earlier.
The recent surge in spending around the indictment eclipses Trump's primary GOP rivals including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who have only spent about $9,000 combined on digital ads, according to data from Bully Pulpit Interactive.
While Trump is embracing the indictment and has raised more than $10 million since appearing in a New York courtroom for his arraignment last week, Haley and DeSantis are using their ad buys to highlight Federal Election Commission fundraising deadlines and "liberal wokeness," respectively, the report said.
Most of Trump's ad purchases have been made through his political action committee, and not through his recently restored main social media accounts, according to Axios.
The merchandise Trump is selling with the ads includes a fake "mugshot" T-shirt for $47 that has the phrase "Not Guilty" underneath the picture of Trump with a height chart showing him at 6-feet-5, following his criticism of District Attorney Alvin Bragg for bringing the "fake" case against him.
"Pictures can be powerful vehicles for persuasion, so by visualizing his arrest in this way, his campaign can frame him as a victim of unfair persecution," Kurt Braddock, a public communication professor at American University, told USA Today on April 4.
A Daily Mail report from Wednesday cited a poll conducted by a Trump super PAC showing 83% of those surveyed saying they believe the prosecution is politically motivated and "without merit," compared to 17% who disagree with that assessment.
"Republican primary voters are united in the belief that Alvin Bragg and his liberal cohorts are mounting a baseless politically motivated attack on President Trump," Tony Fabrizio, Trump's chief pollster for his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, said in the memo obtained by DailyMail.com. "Given the overwhelming opinions Republican primary voters have on this subject, it is very likely that this indictment will only further unite the party behind President Trump."
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