Trump says Bloomberg is ‘wasting his money’ as the two release competing $10m Super Bowl ads

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Donald Trump attacked Michael Bloomberg for “wasting his money” after the billionaire presidential hopeful bought a Super Bowl advertisement costing $10m (£7.6m) — the same amount the president’s campaign spent on advertising during the big game.

The former New York City mayor was set to release a 60-second ad focusing on his efforts to combat gun violence, while the president’s ad would highlight how America has become “stronger, safer and more prosperous” under his administration.

Mr Trump’s re-election campaign also purchased an additional 30-second ad to run during the Super Bowl.

Mr Trump slammed Mr Bloomberg in a series of late-night tweets the night before the Super Bowl, dubbing him “Mini Mike” and claiming the newcomer to the Democratic primaries was “part of the Fake News”.

“Mini Mike is part of the Fake News,” the president tweeted. “They are all working together. In fact, Bloomberg isn’t covering himself (too boring to do), or other Dems. Only Trump. That sounds fair! It’s all the Fake News Media, and that’s why nobody believes in them any more.”

Mr Trump also said Mr Bloomberg was “going nowhere, just wasting his money” while alleging without evidence he was somehow getting the Democratic National Committee “to rig the election against Crazy Bernie”, using the offensive nickname for Bernie Sanders.

Mr Bloomberg, who has largely funded his presidential campaign with his own money, said in a statement that he chose to devote an entire minute during the coveted advertising slot to gun safety “because it matters to communities across the country and it will be a top priority for me as president.”

He added: “All Americans — including people in both parties and a majority of gun owners — support universal background checks and other common sense gun laws.”

The billionaire Democrat, who launched a late bid for the White House after switching parties in 2018 and spending millions in support of Democratic campaigns during the midterms, has vastly outspent all other presidential candidates in advertising.

Mr Bloomberg has already reportedly spent an estimated $250m (£189m) in ads after announcing his campaign in November of last year.

In response to the president’s Twitter attacks, Mr Bloomberg responded in a tweet: “Looks like our ads are keeping you up at night. We’ve got one in particular you should watch today.”