Trump team so angered by $1.5m ‘Hannity campaign ad’ it only ever ran in his show, new book claims

A new book on Donald Trump’s re-election effort claims that Fox News host Sean Hannity contributed to a TV ad attacking Joe Biden – and that the results were so bad the Trump team only ran it on Mr Hannity’s own show.

The ad in question, entitled ‘Swamp Creature’, was brash even by the standards of the Trump campaign’s output. Accusing Mr Biden of supporting trillions of dollars in tax rises and claiming he “turned his back on law enforcement”, it called the former vice-president “radical, corrupt, extreme and dangerous” and described him as “a 47-year swamp creature that has accomplished nothing”.

The story of the ad’s conception and demise was reported by Punchbowl News, which shared an extract from the upcoming book Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story Of How Trump Lost. Written by Wall Street Journal White House reporter Mike Bender, the book draws on interviews with campaign aides, the ex-president’s inner circle, and even Mr Trump himself.