Republican congressional candidate Bob Gray falsely claimed in a robocall that he was the only candidate in the race to personally campaign for Donald Trump.
Two of Gray’s primary opponents in the Georgia race also campaigned for Trump. Throughout the campaign, Gray has tried to cast himself as a strong ally to President Trump.
In audio of the robocall reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Gray says, “I’m the only candidate who personally campaigned for the Trump-Pence team while others refused to stand against Hillary.”
One of Gray’s opponents, Bruce LeVell, personally worked the Trump campaign as the executive director of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. LeVell was also a state co-chair in Georgia for Trump’s campaign.
In response to a request for comment, LeVell’s campaign pointed CNN’s KFile to past comments from LeVell calling Gray “Lyin’ Bob” and “another false prophet.”
On Wednesday, LeVell met with the President and tweeted a photo of himself with Trump in the Oval Office.
Amy Kremer, another candidate running for the seat, also campaigned for Trump through the Women Vote Trump PAC — holding events in Washington D.C. and at the Republican National Committee. Kremer was also a frequent surrogate on cable news advocating for Trump throughout the election.
In an email to supporters, Kremer said Gray’s robocall “crossed a line.”
“Bob claimed he is the only candidate in this congressional race that supported and campaigned for the Trump/Pence team, fighting to defeat Hillary while others did nothing,” Kremer wrote. “This is a blatant and outright lie. This is not stretching the truth or exaggerating, but a boldface lie.”
In tweets on Wednesday, Gray responded to a tweet from Ali Akbar asking about the robocall by saying he had “a good response to it.” In another tweet, Gray pointed to his use of the phrase “leading candidate” earlier in the call, although Gray did not use the phrase to qualify his statement about campaigning for Trump.
In an email exchange, Gray spokesman Joash Thomas pointed to Gray’s use of “leading Republicans in this race” early on in the call, saying, “LeVell and Kramer are great people but they’re simply not gaining any traction in the polls and are both polling at around 1% each.”
