Grieving families ambushed by GOP ads about loved ones' murders: 'I had a panic attack'

The Republican Party’s most powerful Senate super PAC has spent millions on attack ads describing real killings in graphic terms, and some of the victims’ families say no one warned them first.Robin Buonodono’s 5-year-old daughter, Nicole VanNoty, was raped and murdered in 1994, but she was blindsided recently by a TV advertisement about the crime, and she told CNN she felt as thought she couldn't breathe.“I had a panic attack,” said Buonodono, who left Michigan after the killing. “Why are you using someone’s child’s death for political gain?”The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), spent at least $3.7 million on ads recounting Nicole’s murder by Jason Symonds in a campaign targeting Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed. Buonodono said SLF never contacted her. A CNN review of AdImpact data found SLF spent at least $17 million on ads in Michigan and North...