Democratic Senator Al Franken attacked a TV advertisement by the Trump campaign, calling the ad anti-Semitic and reminiscent of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in an interview with CNN.

The ad features shots of Wall Street and the federal reserve that are interspersed with images f several prominent Jews, Janet Yellen, who chairs the Federal Reserve, the left-wing billionaire George Soros and the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein.

"I thought that this was something of a German Shepard whistle," Franken said of the ad.

“I’m Jewish, so maybe I’m sensitive to it. But it clearly had an Elders of Zion feel to it, the international banking crisis conspiracy.”

The chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jonathan Greenblatt, said of the ad: “Whether intentional or not, the images and rhetoric in this ad touch on subjects that anti-Semites have used for ages. This needs to stop.”

In response, Trump adviser on Israel Jason Greenblatt said that “The ADL should focus on real antisemitism and hatred, and not try to find any where none exist."

“Mr Trump’s message and all of the behaviour that I have witnessed over the two decades that I have known him have consistently been pro-Jewish and pro-Israel and accusations otherwise are completely off-base.” he added.