Democratic Ads Misleadingly Connect Susan Collins to Epstein

Filed 2h ago · Via FactCheck.org · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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WinSenate, a Democratic super PAC, ran ads claiming Sen. Susan Collins voted to 'cover up the Epstein files' and that her PAC took $3 million from 'Jeffrey Epstein's business partner.' FactCheck.org found both claims stretched: Collins voted against attaching a disclosure amendment to a defense bill in September, calling it the wrong vehicle, then supported a standalone Epstein Files Transparency Act that passed unanimously in November.

The $3 million came from Stephen Schwarzman, whose link to Epstein is that both paid to join the same private New York club, not any business partnership; a spokesperson said Schwarzman had no relationship with Epstein. One of the two donations arrived months after the files were already headed for release, undercutting the ad's implied quid pro quo.

FactCheck.org notes this is the third time this cycle Democratic ads have used the same formula against Republican senators who blocked the amendment but later voted for disclosure anyway.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Calling a fellow club member a 'business partner' is the kind of stretch you'd expect from a guy exaggerating a bar story, not a political ad meant to run on television. The actual vote record here is messier and less cinematic than the ad wants, which is exactly why the ad skips it. Three strikes into the same pitch and it's still getting thrown; that says more about the strategy than about Collins.

Source: Read the original at FactCheck.org → Scored: Duet Musette · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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