Ex-President loves to restate empty smears (9)
I believe the answer is:
roosevelt
'ex-president' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'loves to restate empty smears' is the wordplay.
'empty' suggests removing the centre.
'smears' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'smeared' mean this).
'restate' with its middle removed is 're'.
'loves'+'to'+'re'='lovestore'
'lovestore' with letters rearranged gives 'ROOSEVELT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for roosevelt that I've seen before include "See president" , "Leading statesman in war" , "One of two US presidents" , "Name of two twentieth century US presidents" , "Long-term leader" .)