Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

3 hours ago

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

3 hours ago

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Is on Its Way to Voters. What You Need to Know

19 hours ago

CARB Executive Leader Rips Trump’s EPA for Seeking to Kill Proven Climate Science

21 hours ago

California Lawmakers Advance First Two Bills in Democrats’ Redistricting Plan

21 hours ago

Judge Rules Alina Habba Was Unlawfully Appointed as US Attorney in New Jersey

22 hours ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Latest Role Is Social Media Troll

1 day ago
New ‘RBG PAC’ Spending $19 Million From Secret Donors to Aid Trump on Abortion
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 10 months ago on
October 27, 2024

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign rally at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz. on Oct. 24, 2024. A new Republican super PAC is running ads invoking the name of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to help Trump win over voters who favor abortion rights. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A new Republican super PAC is invoking the name of deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an audacious attempt to defuse the volatile issue of abortion as a liability for Donald Trump.

The group, which is called RBG PAC and came into existence only days ago, began to spend $20 million Friday in support of Trump, according to federal records. The group posted two abortion-themed ads focused on Trump’s declaration that he would oppose a federal abortion ban.

The group’s paperwork was signed by May Mailman, who worked in the Trump White House and who is now director of the Independent Women’s Law Center. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Mailman posted the ads online and said they featured a “suburban mom” who had never voted for Trump before but was backing him now because he has said he opposes a national abortion ban.

The ad Mailman posted features a woman in a pink sweater sitting in a chair in a living room saying her life was better under Trump. She says that “freedom to choose is also important to me” and that she is voting for Trump, citing his support for exceptions to abortion restrictions in cases of rape, incest and risk to the life of the mother.

“His position is my position,” the woman says.

Trump Took Credit for Overturning Roe v. Wade

Trump has taken credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, which returned the issue of abortion to states, many of which have banned the procedure.

He has since worked to improve his standing with voters on the abortion issue, which polls show remains a significant advantage for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The RBG PAC’s website features two large pictures of Trump and Ginsburg and the words: “Great Minds Think Alike.”

The group’s use of Ginsburg’s name and likeness is particularly brash given that Trump, as president, appointed the Supreme Court justice who succeeded her. That appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, voted with the majority to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Clara Spera, the justice’s granddaughter and an abortion rights lawyer, denounced the PAC in a statement to The New York Times on behalf of her family.

“The RBG PAC has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an affront to my late grandmother’s legacy,” Spera said in the statement. “The use of her name and image to support Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, and specifically to suggest that she would approve of his position on abortion, is nothing short of appalling.”

Ginsburg’s dying wish in 2020 was that she not be replaced on the Supreme Court until a new president was installed, Spera said at the time. Trump pushed ahead in the final weeks before losing reelection.

“My grandmother was a champion for the equality of women and specifically tied the right to abortion to women’s freedom and ability to participate in society,” Spera said Friday. “Meanwhile, Donald Trump gloats about his part in overturning Roe v Wade. He is a direct threat to reproductive liberty and equality.”

Ginsburg Got Into Hot Water for Despising Trump

Ginsburg despised Trump so openly that she got herself into hot water for it. “I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president,” she told the Times in a 2016 interview. “For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.”

Although federal judges are expected to refrain from commenting on politics, Ginsburg kept going. “He is a faker,” she told CNN a few days later. “He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment.” The next day, she apologized publicly for what she called “ill-advised” comments. She was 83 years old, with a history of health problems, and later drew criticism from liberals who said she had overstayed her time on the court, setting the stage for Trump to replace her and help overturn the federal right to abortion.

It is common at the end of a presidential campaign for so-called “pop-up” groups to begin spending large amounts of money after the last financial disclosure deadline. Any groups that were active by Oct. 16, the last day of the last filing period before Election Day, would have been required to disclose donors or vendors working with the group.

RGB PAC filed its paperwork Oct. 16.

“While it is permissible to game the system in this way under the FEC reporting rules that were written in the 1970s, in my experience only a campaign that believes that it is losing resorts to this tactic,” said Brett Kappel, a Democratic campaign-finance lawyer at the firm Harmon Curran.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Shane Goldmacher, Theodore Schleifer and Maggie Haberman/Kenny Holston
c. 2024 The New York Times Company

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Bulldogs Hope to Make Kansas Dust in the Wind as Entz, Warner Debut

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

DON'T MISS

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

DON'T MISS

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

DON'T MISS

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

DON'T MISS

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

DON'T MISS

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

DON'T MISS

LaVerne and Shirley Will Deliver Double the Joy for Their Adoptive Family

DON'T MISS

Highway 99 Stop in Fresno Leads CHP to Big Marijuana Bust, DUI Arrest

UP NEXT

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

UP NEXT

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

UP NEXT

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

UP NEXT

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

UP NEXT

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

UP NEXT

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

UP NEXT

LaVerne and Shirley Will Deliver Double the Joy for Their Adoptive Family

UP NEXT

Highway 99 Stop in Fresno Leads CHP to Big Marijuana Bust, DUI Arrest

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Anthony Mark Lowry

UP NEXT

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

56 minutes ago

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

1 hour ago

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

2 hours ago

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

2 hours ago

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

2 hours ago

LaVerne and Shirley Will Deliver Double the Joy for Their Adoptive Family

2 hours ago

Highway 99 Stop in Fresno Leads CHP to Big Marijuana Bust, DUI Arrest

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Anthony Mark Lowry

3 hours ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

3 hours ago

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

3 hours ago

Bulldogs Hope to Make Kansas Dust in the Wind as Entz, Warner Debut

The Matt Entz era at Fresno State kicks off Saturday. The E.J. Warner era starts Saturday. Fresno State Bulldogs at Kansas Jayhawks Time/Da...

3 minutes ago

PREVIEW Fresno State Bulldogs Football at Kansas Stadium
3 minutes ago

Bulldogs Hope to Make Kansas Dust in the Wind as Entz, Warner Debut

Futures-options traders work on the floor at the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 22, 2025. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
34 minutes ago

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

President Donald Trump holds a chart next to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. (Reuters File)
38 minutes ago

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

Protesters hold placards as they gather around the Los Angeles Federal Building following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole
56 minutes ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

A 27-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Highway 168 in Fresno County on Thursday, August 21, 2025. (GV Wire File)
1 hour ago

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

judge adolfo corona getting indicted by grand jury
2 hours ago

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

A drone view of Stellantis's Chrysler Windsor Assembly facility in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, February 4, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

The U.S. flag and the TikTok logo seen through broken glass are seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend