REAGAN FOUNDATION TELLS TRUMP CAMPAIGN: STOP USING EX-PREXY’S IMAGE

The Reagan Foundation has asked the Trump Make America Great Again (TMAGA) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) fundraising panel to stop using President Ronald Reagan's image, Tom Porter reported for Business Insider late on July 26, 2020.

The request comes after the committee offered a commemorative coin embossed with President Donald Trump and President Ronald Reagan's image to donors who give more than $45. RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens also told Forbes that the request came as a surprise because the foundation "has not objected to us using President Reagan's likeness before." Critics said it was a slap on the face of Trump.

The request from the foundation to cease using Reagan's image in the fundraising drive was first reported by Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty on Saturday. Reagan Foundation Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Giller confirmed the request in a statement to The Hill.

"We own the likeness of President Reagan and they used his image for the coin without our consent. We called the RNC and asked them to cease and desist on the use of President Reagan on the coin and they agreed," Giller said. It's not the first time Trump has sought political benefit from using Reagan's image, with the president sharing a photograph of himself and Reagan taken in 1987 and a fabricated quote from Reagan praising him in a tweet last July. But members of the Reagan family have been scathing in their criticism of Trump. Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan, remarked in a January 2018 interview with the Daily Beast that his father would never have supported him, and describing him as "a traitorous president who is betraying his country."