Nevada Republican Senate candidate Jeff Gunter accused the National Republican Senatorial Committee of disrupting his campaign shortly after former President Trump endorsed his opponent.
Gunter, who served as U.S. ambassador to Iceland during the Trump administration, initially claimed on Monday that the Republican Senatorial Select Committee had blocked his bid for the Nevada seat currently held by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada).
His first criticism of the committee wasPostsOn Monday, he took to social media platform X to claim that a money transfer scheme had been orchestrated between TrumpWorld and the NRSC.
Gunter claimed that a leading candidate in the primary, retired Army Captain Sam Brown, was planning to speak in support of Trump at a rally for the former president in Las Vegas.
“I have been told by people in his entourage that Mr. Scam is gaining support at rallies,” Gunter wrote to X about Brown on Monday.
He then attacked the NRSC and the committee’s chairman, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), blasting them during a conference call Monday night.POLITICOto discourage some groups from supporting his senatorial bid;
Gunter, the dermatologist, told Politico that the NRSC pressured Republican consulting firm The Strategy Group to stop working with him, a charge the company denies, and he also said Daines tried to “intimidate” him out of running for office.
The NRSC denied Gunter’s claims and said he was making “defamatory” accusations.
“Jeff Gunter has completely lost his mind and is making false and defamatory accusations against the NRSC and President Trump,” NRSC communications director Mike Berg said in a statement to The Hill. “Gunter’s crazy rant sounded like Adam Schiff on a witch hunt, and rightly so, since Gunter is also a California Democrat.”
The Trump campaign fired back, arguing Gunter’s accusations were proof the former president couldn’t support the businessman running for Senate.
“Proof why @DrJeffGunter didn’t get the endorsement of @realDonaldTrump is your habit of making up lies,” said Chris Lasivitiar, a senior Trump adviser.SaidAbout X. “President Trump makes his own decisions and this is another example of him making wise choices.”
The former president had not participated in the state’s competitive Republican Senate primary until last weekend, but he attended a fundraiser on Saturday and held a rally on Sunday.
At the rally attended by Gunter and Brown, Trump called Brown a “good guy” but didn’t offer his full support for the Army veteran. But hours later, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee issued a surprise, last-minute endorsement on TruthSocial, calling Brown “a fearless American patriot, a Purple Heart recipient, someone who has proven he has ‘pure grit’ and courage in the fight against enemies foreign and domestic.”
The NRSC had already endorsed Brown during the primary election.
Gunter told Politico that he spoke with Trump on Saturday night, the day before the rally, and that Trump told him, “I just can’t believe you’re losing.”
The Nevada Republican primary is scheduled for Tuesday. Nevada is one of a handful of battleground states that will determine who wins the White House and controls the Senate.
The Hill has reached out to Brown’s campaign for comment.
