Donald Trump Jr. said Friday night that the Republican establishment is working to “destroy” Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno because he threatens the “corrupt, single-party swamp.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s high-stakes Senate primary, Trump Jr. took to Twitter to slam the “RINO establishment” following a defamatory article published by the Associated Press on Thursday.
The entire RINO establishment knows that America First Patriot Bernie Moreno is a threat to the corrupt One-Party Swamp, so they are doing everything in their power to destroy him!!! https://t.co/6yGAQscd27
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 16, 2024
“The entire RINO establishment is doing everything in its power to destroy America First Patriot Bernie Moreno because they know he is a threat to the corrupt one-party Swamp!!!” he wrote.
As Breitbart News’ Capitol Hill correspondent Bradley Jay reported, the hit against Moreno, who is endorsed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is “significant evidence that further erodes the legitimacy of the story. while debunking the allegations laid out in the article itself.
The hit story involves a profile posted in 2008 on a casual sexual encounter website called Adult Friend Finder. The profile, exposed in a website data breach, was created using internal emails and literature used on the website of a company owned by Moreno. According to the Associated Press, the caption on the profile, which has no photo and was last accessed about six hours after it was created, reads, “Looking for a young man to have fun with while traveling.” It is said that he is suffering.
Despite a sworn statement by a former intern at Moreno’s company, the Associated Press said the intern created a profile as a “youth prankster” using email addresses controlled by staff members, including the intern, suggesting Moreno’s possible involvement. A hit article was broadcast that questioned the The Associated Press, by its own admission, lacked evidence linking Moreno to the account.
Additionally, the AP excluded key evidence in its possession submitted by Moreno’s lawyers and excerpted only one sentence from his statement provided to the AP. A statement from Charles Harder, Moreno’s legal advisor, read:
“Sixteen years ago, a Moreno Auto intern created an AFF account as a prank, but promptly abandoned it the same day. We have a copy of a signed letter from the intern acknowledging this. and provided the AP with a copy of another signed letter from a former vice president at Moreno’s company confirming that the intern was employed at the time the account in question was created. The email address was not Mr. Bernie’s personal email address; it was an email address posted on the company’s website and materials and maintained by staff. Multiple people, including this intern, had access to it. Bernie Moreno had no connection with the AFF account. Metadata indicates that the AFF account was never used and that no correspondence or contacts were sent to or received from other AFF accounts. No photos or content were ever uploaded. The AFF account didn’t exist for half a day 16 years ago.”
The story further fell apart on Saturday when AFF founder Andrew Conrue disputed Associated Press reporting on the geolocation data in the story.The focus is on the Associated Press report “Location data indicates the account was set up for use in parts of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”
“The Associated Press report appears to claim that available data proving the account was created in Florida is inaccurate because location information is entered manually during the registration process. ” Conrue wrote. “In fact, there appears to be no public geolocation data associated with this account.”
As the founder and author of much of the initial code for Adult Friend Finder, I would like to make a short statement regarding Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno’s alleged involvement with the site in 2008. think.
After reviewing all available information, the account…
— Andrew Conru (@andrewconru) March 16, 2024
The site’s founder suggests that it’s very likely Moreno was actually the victim of a prank. https://t.co/GUsThDj3AX
— Liz Skalka (@lizskalka) March 16, 2024
Looks like it can be cleared now @berniemoreno And wow, @AP_Politics Claiming geographic data when it doesn’t exist is another journalistic disaster. https://t.co/kFOginAslR
— Mike Brice (@MikeBrice) March 16, 2024
Moreno on Friday shared a video from a Feb. 28 campaign event where he appeared with Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and others.
He was right. @DonaldJTrumpJr I said the swamp, the mainstream media, and the RINOs are after me just like them @realDonaldTrump. I wear attack like a badge of honor. That means I’m a threat to the establishment. pic.twitter.com/qvEi3l7jC5
— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) March 15, 2024
“I understand they’re not going to make it easy on you. I understand there’s a lot of people working hard against you,” Trump Jr. told Moreno to the crowd. “But Bernie Moreno will do a great job representing the great people of Ohio in Washington, D.C.”
“So let’s all know that Bernie is one of us. Bernie is my father’s man. He’s the only America First candidate in the race,” he said. added.
In a post Friday, Moreno said Trump Jr. was “correct” to predict that the 45th president would “have the swamp, the mainstream media, and the RINOs coming after me just like they did.” did.
“I wear attack like a badge of honor. That means I am a threat to the establishment,” Moreno added.
