Ad watch: Misleading ad tries to connect Aftab Pureval with Libya

Scott Wartman | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption 1st Congressional District Race in 30 seconds Here's what you need to know about Steve Chabot and Aftab Pureval in 30 seconds

In May, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan came to Cincinnati to sample some ice cream and tour a Kroger facility with Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood.

But a Ryan-aligned super PAC's interest in the Queen City isn't ice cream. They want to tie Chabot's Democratic challenger, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval, to Libya.

Local television stations on Wednesday began airing an ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC devoted to electing GOP candidates to the House.

More: Six factors that might decide one of the nation's most important and contentious congressional races

The ad shows how important the 1st Congressional District race is in the minds of national political leaders and could show how vulnerable the GOP thinks Chabot is.

Two prominent political prognosticators see the race as a toss-up.

Here's an analysis of the ad:

Ad title: "He should know"

Who's paying for it: Congressional Leadership Fund

How much is it costing: $1.2 million

Where it's running: Cincinnati

Watch it yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GHInt6P884&feature=youtu.be

Script: “Politician Aftab Pureval will say anything to get elected."

Aftab Pureval soundbite: "The special interests and lobbyists rig the game to benefit themselves."

"Pureval should know, he worked at a D.C. lobbying firm. But worse than Pureval’s lies is his hypocrisy. Pureval’s lobbying firm made millions helping Libya reduce payments owed to families of Americans killed by Libyan terrorism. Selling out Americans? Aftab Pureval can’t be trusted.”

The narration is voiced over video and photos of Pureval in the beginning. Next come photos of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, plus men in headscarves brandishing machine guns and photos of a plane crash. The video ends with a picture of Pureval and Hillary Clinton, though Clinton is mentioned nowhere in the video.

Fact Check: White & Case, one of the largest law firms in the world, hired Aftab Pureval in September 2008 in its Washington, D.C. office just after he graduated from the University of Cincinnati law school.

Pureval was a small fish in a big pond.

White & Case was ranked in 2016 as the 16th highest grossing law firm in the world and employs more than 2,000 lawyers in 29 countries, according to the National Law Journal.

A month before Pureval joined the law firm in 2008, the U.S. and Libya under the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi reached a settlement for Libya to compensate victims of the various terrorist attacks $1.5 billion.

This included the 1986 bombing of a disco in Germany and the 1988 bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The Libyan government retained White & Case during the negotiations, paying White & Case $1.9 million in 2008, according to filings with the Department of Justice.

Pureval didn't work on the case. His name isn't listed among the three attorneys who submitted expenses related to representing Libya in 2008, Justice department documents showed.

Pureval's campaign said he worked anti-trust litigation cases. Pureval left White & Case in 2012, according to his resume on LinkedIn.

The $1.5 billion settlement was approved by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. As part of the agreement, the U.S. agreed to drop legislation that would have allowed terrorism victims to sue companies who invest in Libya.

How much, if at all, the Libyans and their attorneys tried to negotiate the figure down isn't clear based on legal documents and news reports. And the ad doesn't specify.

And there's no record of any accusation the law firm did anything illegal or unethical in the Libyan settlement.

At the time, the United States' top diplomat in the Middle East labeled the settlement as "historic."