The Billy Graham smear on Trump just completely collapsed

Last year, a group called "Evangelicals for Harris" tried to use famed preacher Billy Graham to attack Donald Trump.

The group, now known as "Evangelicals for America," released an ad that spliced together old footage Graham with footage of Trump. The purpose of the ad was to weaponize Graham against Trump, trying to make it appear as if Graham himself was condemning Trump as "greedy," "proud and abusive," and violent.

'Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016 ...'

The ad ended with Graham declaring, "Keep clear of people like that."

As Blaze News reported, the ad exposed Evangelicals for Harris to legal liability. Lawyers for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association reportedly sent the group multiple letters, including a cease-and-desist notice. The BGEA accused Evangelicals for Harris of "unauthorized, political use of the BGEA’s copyrighted video."

At the time, Evangelicals for Harris lashed out at the BGEA's attempts to tell the truth about Graham and protect his image. The group accused Franklin Graham, the CEO of the BGEA, of using the "Trump playbook" to "silence" them.

Ten months later, Evangelicals for America is singing a completely different tune — and admitting wrongdoing.

Earlier this month, the group released a statement apologizing for using the footage of Graham. The organization also removed the ad from its platforms.

"Our intent was not to infringe on BGEA's copyright or to give the impression that Rev. Graham would have taken a side in publicly supporting one political candidate over another in an election, so we apologize to BGEA," Evangelicals for America said in a statement.

"We have continued dialogue with BGEA since the election, and we affirm its position that Rev. Graham's purpose was always clear: Telling people about God's Son, Jesus Christ, who alone came from heaven to earth to make a way for all mankind to be saved from our sins. He never politicized the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the works he created through BGEA," the statement continued.

While it's not clear if voters were swayed by the ad, it did accumulate 30 million views before being removed, according to the Religion News Service.

For Franklin Graham, the issue was not one he could ignore. Not only was Evangelicals for Harris potentially running afoul of copyright law, but Franklin believed the group was weaponizing his father to "mislead" voters.

"The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image. They are trying to mislead people," Franklin said last year. "Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President [Trump] in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed."

The BGEA said the apology from Evangelicals for America "speaks for itself."

"We are grateful for the outcome," the BGEA told the Religion News Service.