Republican group airs anti-Trump advert on Fox News

Campaign launches ahead of Supreme Court arguments on president’s finances

Republicans challenging Donald Trump’s re-election bid have aired two new attack adverts on Fox News that claim the US president has abused the power of his office.

The conservative group, Republicans for the Rule of Law (RRL), released the adverts that appeared on Monday during Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Tucker Carlson Tonight and Sean Hannity.

One 94-second spot, titled “Donald Trump Acts Like He’s a King”, told viewers that the president “thinks our constitutional system doesn’t apply to him”.

“He says he has an absolute right to do whatever he wants with law enforcement,” it continued, alleging that the billionaire was going “after his enemies and protecting his friends”.

On Tuesday the US Supreme Court hear oral arguments against the president in three cases that could determine the shape of Congress’s powers to hold presidents to account.

Mr Trump has tried to block subpoenas which demanded the release of his personal financial records.

The Supreme Court will decide whether or not Mr Trump could be indicted for financial crimes while in office, under Article II of the US constitution.

The president has maintained that the investigation is beyond the powers of Congress.

“At its core, our constitution relies on the fundamental principle of checks and balances,” said RRL chief of communications Carson Putnam and Protect Democracy policy advocate Justin Vail in a joint statement on Monday.

“Neither the president, nor Congress, nor the courts can have unlimited power. But president Trump blatantly flouts that notion, abusing his power and then playing a dangerous shell game to avoid any accountability,” the statement said.

“President Trump’s attorneys will tell the Supreme Court that the president is immune from all accountability,” they added. “The Supreme Court – and we the people – must defend the future of our democracy and reject the President’s extreme arguments.”

In a second RRL video, former Republican New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman says that the US was in a “dangerous position” when a president cannot be held to account.

“We’re in a very dangerous position because that means a president can do whatever they want,” argued the advert.

Monday’s advertisements were the latest in a series of RRL campaigns against Mr Trump.