New ads airing in Georgia blast Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents

A Washington, D.C.-based group chaired by longtime Republican activist Bill Kristol is doubling down on an ad campaign taking former President Donald Trump to task for his handling of classified documents.

The Republican Accountability Project (RAP) launched a $500,000 ad campaign this week airing on Fox News and CNN in swing states including Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin, as well as nationally on digital platforms. The new campaign brings the group’s spending thus far to $2 million.

The ad features Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and National Security Agency, accusing Trump of disregarding national security by keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

“We don’t know who saw them, but we have to assume these documents were compromised,” Hayden says in the ad. “Trump must face consequences for his actions.”

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Trump was indicted last month on seven counts including obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements, the first time in U.S. history a former president has faced federal charges. He also is accused under the Espionage Act.

With Trump holding a huge lead in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, his lawyers are seeking to delay the trial under after the election.

“General Hayden has dedicated his life to keeping America safe,” RAP Director Sarah Longwell said. “If there is an anyone who knows just how dangerous Trump’s actions were, it’s him. And we are going to make sure the American people know that, too.”

This week’s ad is the fourth RAP has released detailing Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Trump also was indicted in New York in April on charges of falsifying business records, while a grand jury was selected Tuesday in Fulton County to hear testimony on his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia that saw Joe Biden carry the Peach State, the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so since Bill Clinton in 1992.