Pro-Trump super PAC America First caught using stock footage from Ukraine
This is just the latest time pro-Trump groups have used foreign stock footage in their ads.
A super PAC supporting Donald Trump’s reelection bid used stock footage made in Ukraine and Thailand in a pair of ads that unironically claim Democratic nominee Joe Biden “shipped tens of thousands of our jobs overseas,” making life worse in the United States.
The stock footage can be found in two ads the group is running in the final days of the 2020 election, according to sleuthing by American Bridge 21st Century.
The first is an ad titled “Dignity,” which claims that Biden “sold us out to China.” The ad uses stock footage from Ukraine of the Chinese Yuan. It also showed an image homeless person meant to be in the United States, but is actually stock footage taken in Thailand.
A second ad titled “Motion” that claims Biden is going to raise your taxes uses stock footage from Ukraine. Another image of an old person’s hand holding a young person’s hand is from Thailand.
It’s just the latest instance in which pro-Trump groups or the Trump campaign itself used stock footage from a foreign country that’s played off as being from the United States.
Back in October, the same pro-Trump Super PAC used stock footage from Russia and Belarus to attack Biden for supporting bad trade deals and raising taxes, Politico reported at the time.
In September, the Trump campaign used stock imagery of “Russian-made fighter jets and Russian models dressed as soldiers” in an ad urging people to “support our troops,” according to a report from Politico.
Trump’s reelection campaign also used stock footage of boxes moving along a conveyor belt with the words “MADE IN USA” on them. However, the footage was actually made by a Russian photographer and the “MADE IN USA” wording was superimposed over the image, according to a report from the Daily Beast.
The last-minute ad blitz may not be enough for Trump and his campaign.
One day before the election, Trump trails Biden 8.5 points nationally, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average. Trump also trails Biden in enough swing states that, if the polls are correct, Biden would win 351 Electoral College votes, according to the New York Times.
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