Top Democratic super PAC launches $6M campaign attacking Trump on coronavirus

The largest Democratic super PAC is launching a $6 million campaign hitting President Trump over his response to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The Priorities USA campaign includes ads in four battleground states highlighting how Trump downplayed the threat posed by the outbreak for weeks, even as the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. ticked higher. 

The first ad from the group features audio clips of Trump claiming that the coronavirus outbreak is a “hoax” and that his administration has the situation “totally under control.” Meanwhile, a chart in the background shows the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. rising exponentially. 

The 30-second spot is set to begin airing on Tuesday in Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. 

“From the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Donald Trump has repeatedly misled the American people and exposed us to unnecessary danger,” Priorities Chairman Guy Cecil said in a statement. “His failure to lead continues to have real life and death consequences as hospitals, local and state governments, small businesses, and millions of Americans are left without the tools and information they need.”

Priorities is also preparing to launch a second television ad casting former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary race, as better-equipped than Trump to handle a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic.

The ad campaign is part of a larger plan by Priorities to spend $150 million attacking Trump ahead of the Democratic National Convention in July.

Trump downplayed the threat posed by coronavirus for weeks, accusing Democrats and the media of overhyping the danger of the disease. He has changed his tone in recent weeks as the virus has continued to spread, casting himself as a “wartime president” capable of leading the country through a crisis.