Video surfaces of Vukmir criticizing Trump.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir has a Breitbart problem.
Following other attacks against her, the conservative website on Tuesday posted a video from March 2016 in which Vukmir said Donald Trump was “offensive to everyone” and indicated that many Republicans would have to hold their noses to vote for him for president.
The video release came just one day after Breitbart had a story saying three members of Vukmir’s campaign team expressed anti-Trump views during the 2016 campaign.
Breitbart is the website once run by Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist under Trump. A super PAC aligned with Bannon endorsed Vukmir’s Republican opponent, Kevin Nicholson, in the Wisconsin race.
Vukmir and Nicholson have portrayed themselves as staunch supporters of the president. With the race in a dead heat, it’s unclear how the video will play in the closing days before the Aug. 14 primary.
The video was taken at an event hosted by Charlie Sykes, who led the charge against Trump during the April 2016 presidential primary in Wisconsin.
“He’s offensive to everyone,” Vukmir said of Trump on the video. “He’s offensive to women. He’s offensive to men. He’s offensive to little people. He’s offensive to fat people. He’s offensive to everyone, and I — he offends everyone.”
Vukmir held her nose when talking about what she and others would do to vote for Trump.
“So, I think ultimately if our goal as Republicans is to defeat Hillary Clinton, there are going to be a lot of people doing this if they want to,” Vukmir said, as she pinched her nose.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Vukmir first backed Republican Gov. Scott Walker. When he dropped out, she supported U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. After Rubio’s withdrawal, she voted for Ted Cruz in Wisconsin’s April primary.
Later, she was part of a Republican women for Trump group in the general election.
On Tuesday, Vukmir told Fox Business News of the president: “I have always been there with him, I have stood with him, I continue to stand with him.”
Vukmir campaign manager Jess Ward hit back at Nicholson’s side.
“This is a ridiculous discussion considering Kevin Nicholson did nothing to help President Trump in 2016, sided with Steve Bannon against President Trump in 2017 and in 2018 is working with the very same consultants who directed leading campaigns against President Trump,” Ward said in a statement.
“Leah Vukmir is the only candidate in this race who has stood strongly with President Trump consistently, even recording an ad supporting him during the most difficult days of his campaign, while Kevin Nicholson was nowhere to be found,” she said.
In 2016, Nicholson initially supported Rubio and donated to his campaign. He later backed Trump.
In a statement, Nicholson said: “The people who Donald Trump really offends are the establishment politicians like Leah Vukmir who only support the president when it’s easy or politically convenient. This is why voters don’t trust the political class — they are hypocrites, pure and simple. Leah’s own words against President Trump prove she’s long been a Trump opponent, and it is important that Wisconsin Republicans know the truth.”