Clinton linked to Nixon by GOP super-PAC

A top Republican super-PAC is launching a digital attack ad framing Hillary Clinton as a modern-day Richard Nixon.

The American Crossroads attack ad, which will target Democratic voters in New York leading into Tuesday’s primary, splices footage of the former president and Clinton pitching similar-sounding defenses of their conduct.

{mosads}The ad leaves viewers with the impression that Clinton’s private email scandal is the 21st-century equivalent of Nixon’s Watergate, which concerned a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and led to his resignation.

“I am confident, by the end of this campaign, people will know they can trust me,” Clinton says in the ad. 

Clinton’s statement follows a clip discussing her use of a private email server as secretary of State and is spliced alongside footage of Nixon reassuring people of his truthfulness during Watergate. The ad closes with the hashtag #NeverHillary.

“It’s eerie how similar they are — the compulsive references to trust, the emphatic denials,” said Steven Law, President and CEO of American Crossroads, in a statement. 

“It’s as if Hillary studied the Nixon model while on the Watergate committee and then decided to replicate it.” 

American Crossroads is a major Republican super-PAC founded by former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove. In the 2012 presidential cycle, American Crossroads and its associated nonprofit organization, Crossroads GPS, spent more than $175 million in a failed attempt to defeat President Obama. 

So far in 2016, Crossroads has stayed neutral in the Republican primaries and has focused its fire entirely on Clinton, the current Democratic presidential front-runner. 

But Crossroads has so far spent little on the Clinton attack ads. The Nixon digital ad is supported by a “five-figure” buy, and to date the super-PAC has spent a little over $100,000 attacking Clinton. 

Previous Crossroads hits have included a $50,000 buy before the Iowa caucuses nailing Clinton for her Wall Street ties, and a $40,000 buy in Nevada suggesting Clinton is disingenuous about her recent softening on illegal immigration.