WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump and a video of a Latino man convicted of killing two police officers (all times local):
7:10 p.m.
The president’s re-election campaign is out with a new ad that borrows liberally from an expletive-filled, anti-immigration video that was denounced as racist.
The new ad, tweeted Friday by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, warns ominously that a caravan of migrants that has been traveling toward the U.S. could be filled with “dangerous illegal criminals.” And it includes footage of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers.
“America cannot allow this invasion,” the narrator says.
Bracamontes was also featured in an ad President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that was widely seen as reminiscent of the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad used against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and condemned as racist.
Parscale says the new ad will start running nationally Friday night.
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7:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump says a video he tweeted showing a Mexican migrant in a courtroom smiling and boasting about killing police officers is tough “but correct.”
Democrats and Republicans have denounced the video as a racist campaign tactic.
The video was reminiscent of the infamous “Willie Horton” ad used against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 and condemned as racist advertisement.
Horton, who was black, raped a woman while out of prison on a weekend furlough. As Massachusetts governor, Dukakis supported the furlough program
Trump told The Washington Times in an interview published Friday that he didn’t view it as a “Willie Horton ad at all.” The president says it’s just an ad about a “bad guy” who twice entered the country illegally and committed crimes.
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2:44 a.m.
Ahead of the midterm elections, President Donald Trump is tweeting a video alleging Democrats were responsible for allowing a convicted cop killer into the U.S. But he’s providing no evidence supporting his claim.
The video is reminiscent of the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad used against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and condemned as racist.
Trump highlighted the case of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers.
The spot includes expletives uttered by Bracamontes during his trial professing regret at not killing more officials.
The caption reads: “Illegal immigrant, Luis Bracamontes, killed our people!” It adds: “Democrats let him into our country…Democrats let him stay.” Trump provides no evidence linking Democrats to Bracamontes.
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