Ramaswamy: Acton campaign ‘defamed my mother’ before attack ad

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy slammed opponent Democrat Amy Acton's campaign on Sunday, saying her campaign "defamed my mother" before he released a controversial attack ad earlier this month.

Appearing on Fox News , Ramaswamy was asked whether he regretted releasing an attack ad that featured Acton's estranged mother , Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a "liar."

"I'll tell you the advice I was raised in: You never start a fight, but if you find yourself in one, you finish it, and you have to stand for what is right and what is true," he said. "They've attacked me. They've defamed my mother to media silence. It's unbelievable. And yet, at the same time, they'll trot out anything to attack a Republican."

Ramaswamy did not mention a specific instance of alleged defamation. The Hill has reached out to his campaign for clarification and comment.

Acton has talked about experiencing physical and sexual abuse, along with neglect, during her childhood. Her mother stayed with her stepfather even after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was 12 years old, according to court documents .

Acton's campaign in August released attacks regarding Axovant, a company Ramaswamy founded that promoted Alzheimer's medication, and the ad's included his mother.

"Today, new reporting details how billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy hired his own mother, who lacked research experience, to manipulate clinical trial data in an alleged 'pump and dump' pharmaceutical scheme," the press release read.

Addie Bullock, one of Acton's communications directors, accused Ramaswamy of "shamelessly profiting off Alzheimer's patients and getting his own mother to manipulate clinical trial data, to make a buck," in a press release at that time.

Axovant went public and saw its value shoot up to more than $350 million in its initial public offering before plummeting after the company reported its Alzheimer's drug failed Phase 3 testing.

An investigation by Politifact , a nonpartisan fact-checker, found that Acton's claims concerning Ramaswamy pushing an "Alzheimer's drug that he knew didn't work" and making "hundreds of millions of dollars scamming people" were mostly false.

New polling from Fox News showed Acton leading Ramaswamy by 2 points, although her lead is within the poll's margin of error of 2 percentage points.