Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign is throwing down against a faker in Indiana who is using Trump’s likeness to attack a Trump-endorsed candidate in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
John Rust, a longtime Democrat voter and businessman who is running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Indiana this year despite challenges to his ballot eligibility, is out with a new ad in which he uses Trump to attack Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN)—the actual Trump-endorsed candidate there—and attempts to compare himself to Trump.
The ad, available on Rust’s account on X—the platform formerly known as Twitter—repeatedly shows images of Trump as Rust compares himself to the former president and then shows images of Banks while Rust argues Banks does not align with Trump.
The irony here is, of course, Trump has not endorsed Rust. Trump has in fact endorsed Banks, the former chairman of the very conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) in the House of Representatives and a longtime ally of Trump in Congress.
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 3: Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is seen outside a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A Trump campaign spokesman, asked by Breitbart News for a response to Rust’s ad, said he should “cease and desist” using any likeness of Trump in any of his campaign ads and reiterated Trump’s endorsement of Banks for Senate.
“President Trump’s friend, Jim Banks, is the only candidate in this race endorsed by President Trump,” the Trump campaign spokesman told Breitbart News. “Any other candidate using President Trump’s name, image, or likeness to purposely deceive voters must immediately cease and desist. President Trump looks forward to working with a future Senator Banks in 2025 to accomplish incredible things for the Great State of Indiana and our country.”
Rust’s campaign has not replied to a comment request from Breitbart News sent on Thursday evening when asked to respond to Trump’s campaign’s message to him to cease and desist using Trump’s likeness.
Banks, who is running for the seat that Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) is vacating due to his run for governor in Indiana, received one of the first major endorsements from Trump of the 2024 cycle. In fact, Trump backed Banks’ Senate bid a year ago—back on Feb. 1, 2023—backing that helped scare off a potential challenge from former Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Nonetheless, despite having a generally clear path to the GOP nomination, Rust decided to run against Banks. Rust has family ties, as Breitbart News has reported, to an egg empire accused of inflating egg prices in an antitrust lawsuit—and a facility that also has ties to cold case victims.
Rust is also someone who has long been a registered Democrat voter in Indiana, as Breitbart News has reported in the past.