Exclusive: DNC launching billboards hitting Trump over Milwaukee comments
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The Democratic National Committee is launching billboards in 10 locations across Milwaukee on Friday featuring former President Trump's reported diss of the city that's the site of the Republican National Convention next month.
Why it matters: Trump reportedly used "horrible" to describe the city in the key swing state during his closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday with House Republicans, though his campaign and Republican lawmakers dispute this account.
- They say that Trump was referring to the crime in the city, not the city itself.
- Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote that the former president was referring to "how terrible crime and voter fraud are."
Zoom in: But the Biden campaign and Democrats seized on the comments.
- Biden posted a photo on the social media platform X and wrote, "I happen to love Milwaukee."
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wrote on X, "add it to the list of things Donald Trump is wrong about."
- Biden won Wisconsin by fewer than 21,000 votes in 2020 and his re-elect campaign is investing heavily in the the key battleground.
The billboards will run in 10 different locations across Milwaukee, the most populous county in the state and a Democratic stronghold, Axios has learned.
- Five of the billboards will feature Trump's remarks, "Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city," as was first reported by Punchbowl News.
- The other five billboards will feature the post on the social media platform X from Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman.
What they're saying: "Donald Trump has made his contempt for Wisconsinites and their home clear," DNC Deputy communications director Abhi Rahman said in a statement.
- "The dislike is mutual – in 2020, Wisconsin handed Trump a one way ticket back to exile in Mar-a-Lago and sent President Biden to the Oval Office," Rahman said.
- "Trump hates Milwaukee because Milwaukeeans know exactly who he is – a sore loser who they're going to make a two-time loser this November," Rahman said.
