LIAR, LIAR: President Trump jumped in to support Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in running an ad in which his opponent’s estranged mother says her daughter lied about being raped by her stepfather as a child.

  Counter to widespread objections to the ad, Trump posted a 400- word screed supporting Ramaswamy, writing, “I suggested, on the other hand, that Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!”

  Trump doesn’t know anything about the situation that transpired in 1978, and  admitted he doesn’t know anything about Acton. He wrote, “The fact is, Lyin’ Amy Acton, who I’ve never even heard of before, has been lying about Vivek for the entire Campaign.”

  Back in 1978 Acton’s stepfather was indicted, fled the state, and the children were removed from the home.

  The President chimed in after Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine urged Ramaswamy, his party’s nominee to replace him, to stop using the attack ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent. It’s a rare in-house rebuke. 

INFINITE SCROLL: 

— President Trump called Elon Musk last week asking him to restore Ukraine’s full access to the Starshield satellite communications network that has become vital to the country’s defense against Russia, The NY Times reports.

  It’s not clear whether Musk had made a unilateral decision to limit Ukraine’s service or did it in coordination with the White House.

  Asked about the call to Musk Trump said, “I don’t want to comment on it, you know, whether I called or whether ⁠somebody else called — doesn’t make any difference, I guess. The bottom line — he put it back.”

— In a rare moment in which the Justice Department is going after a Republican, the DOJ has opened a corruption investigation into Corey Lewandowski , who worked with Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security. The investigation is the result of a referral from Homeland Security’s inspector general, The NY Times reports.

  President Trump did not offer words of support for Lewandowski. “I want my people to be honest, and if they are not going to be honest they have to be prosecuted,” the President told reporters. “If people are not honest, they’re stealing from me.”

  Lewandowski had been Trump’s first campaign manager 10 years ago. He was working at Homeland Security in what was supposed to be a limited role but became close … some say very, very close … to Kristi Noem. He was forced out in March following complaints about his conduct.  

CARRIAGELESS HORSES: The New York City Council voted yesterday to ban the horse carriages that have been a tradition for tourists in Central Park. A ban has been discussed for years because of concerns about the health and treatment of the horses, but the anti-carriage movement gained speed after an 18-year-old tourist was killed riding in a runaway carriage this past summer.

  The bill does not take effect until 2028 and is sure to face litigation. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not said whether he will sign it.

  New York’s carriage industry provides a living for about 200 people including owners, drivers, and stable hands. The bill passed by the city council does not say what would become of the 180 carriage horses.

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Tom Skerritt who played Duke Forrest, a wiseass, martini-drinking Army surgeon in the 1970 “M*A*S*H” and was Tom Cruise’s training officer “Viper” in the 1986 “Top Gun,” had died at age 93.

  Despite his start as a sarcastic Army doctor, Sherritt had a long career playing lawmen, military types, and confident fathers. In “Alien” (1979), he was the calm and common-sense spaceship captain, who handled things when a monster was on the loose in the ship. 

THE SPIN RACK: Days before the Israel election, two Palestinian gunmen attacked a road junction near Hebron today, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order Israel’s military to prepare for a “full lockdown” of the West Bank. Both gunmen were killed. — The manosphere “looksmaxxing” influencer known as Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, pleaded not guilty yesterday to rape on Cape Cod. In September Peters was charged with assaulting and having sex with a 17-year-old girl at a home owned by his family. — The three-hourdocumentary “You Can See everything” about tech fraudster Elizabeth Holmes opened last weekend in 855 theaters with 2,000 sold-out shows. Holmes notoriously bilked investors through her company Theranos, which she claimed could perform a wide variety of medical tests with a single drop of blood. She’s serving 11 years. — High interest rates are beginning to cause home sellers in some areas to drop their prices, The NY Times reports. — Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the powerful 82-year-old president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, has been indicted in connection with a family-run marijuana business. The federal indictment accuses her of  conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, money laundering, maintaining a drug premise, and honest services fraud. Virginia legalized recreational marijuana only this year and the indictment accuses Lucas and her relatives of selling recreational marijuana as far back as 2021. 

BELOW THE FOLD: President Trump said he called Google CEO Sundar Pichai about re-naming the Atlantic Ocean and Pichai replied: “Please don’t ask us to do that.”

 The President has already re-named … or believes he has … the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.

  Trump said he would “probably pass” on renaming the Atlantic Ocean following his call with Pichai but mused that he might rename the Pacific “the American Ocean” instead.

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