Augusta, ME – A new report from NBC News reveals that a union leader has sent a cease and desist letter to a Super PAC backing Susan Collins for an attack ad that conveys a “false and defamatory” message to Maine voters.

In response to the revelations, Misha Linnehan, spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party, released the following statement:

“In their increasing desperation to keep Rubber-Stamp Susan in the Senate, Donald Trump’s billionaire allies are resorting to lies and smears to distract Mainers from the fact that Susan Collins has failed Maine by voting with Trump 96% of the time. Mainers are furious with Collins for selling them out and are ready to elect a Senator who fights for them – not one beholden to the out-of-state billionaires blanketing Maine in false attack ads.”

Read more here:

NBC News: Union leader quoted in Maine Senate attack ad sends ‘cease and desist’ to GOP PAC

• Lawyers for a New York-based union leader have sent a letter demanding that the Republican super PAC Senate Leadership Fund “immediately cease and desist” from airing or broadcasting an ad that features a quote from him attacking Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson.
  

• The ad goes after Jackson’s support for a “Medicare for All” healthcare system and includes this caption: “Troy Jackson’s ‘plan is a disaster,’” a quote it attributes to “Gregory Floyd, president of Teamster Local 237,” which is based in New York.

• The letter, first obtained by NBC News, says Floyd made no such comment about the plan by Jackson, who is vying to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-stakes race that is neck and neck in the polls.
  

• The ad is being run by The Maine Standard, a group tied to Senate Leadership Fund, which is heavily invested in a Collins victory.

• “By placing Mr. Jackson’s name directly before those words, the Ad conveys to viewers the unmistakable—and false—message that Mr. Floyd has publicly condemned Mr. Jackson’s plan. That message is false and defamatory,” Eyad Asad, a lawyer for Floyd, wrote to SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham in the letter, which was dated Oct. 13.
  

• “By invoking Mr. Floyd’s name and his position as President of Local 237, SLF has misappropriated their credibility to lend false authority to its political message,” the lawyer continued. “SLF is now on notice that Mr. Floyd has never commented on Mr. Jackson’s plans and that the Ad falsely portrays him as having done so. Any continued dissemination of the Ad will be knowing and deliberate.”
  

• Reached by phone, Floyd told NBC News he doesn’t know Jackson and was surprised when a local union leader sent him the ad. “I said I have no idea who or what they’re talking about. I spoke to no one,” Floyd said.

• “It’s more than offensive,” he said. “I was shocked. I said, ‘How does this happen?’”
  

• As for Jackson, he said, “I’m here in New York. Today was the first time I heard his name.” […]

• Asked about the cease and desist, Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb said Jackson is “proud to have the support of more than 40 unions” and said he’s “on the side of working people.”

• In a statement provided by Jackson’s campaign, Brett Miller, president of Maine’s Teamsters Local 340, which endorsed him, said: “Troy is one of us. He’s a proud union member and the only choice for working families in the race for U.S. Senate.”