The Associated Press ran a tawdry smear piece Thursday attacking leading Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno despite debunking the allegations within its own story and withholding critical evidence further eroding the tale’s validity.
The hit piece involves the existence of a 2008 profile on a casual sexual encounter website called Adult Friend Finder. That profile, made public through a data breach of the website, was created using a company email used on a Moreno-owned company’s website and literature. The AP story says a caption on the photo-less profile, which it notes was last accessed about six hours after it was created, says, “Looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling.”
The AP ran the hit piece questioning Moreno’s potential involvement despite a sworn statement from a former intern for Moreno’s company that the intern created the profile as a “juvenile prank” using an email address managed by staff, including interns. The AP also, by its own admission, lacked evidence linking Moreno to the account.
Additionally, the AP excluded critical evidence in its possession presented by Moreno’s attorney, only running one sentence from his statement provided to the AP. That statement from Charles Harder, Moreno’s legal counsel, reads:
16 years ago an intern at Moreno Auto created an account at AFF as a prank, which he quickly abandoned that same day. We have provided AP a copy of a signed letter from that intern, admitting to this, as well as another signed letter from a former VP of Mr. Moreno’s company, confirming this intern’s employment at the time the account in question was created. The email address in question was not Bernie’s personal email address, but rather an email address that appeared on company websites and literature and was managed by staff. Multiple people had access to it, including this intern. Bernie Moreno had nothing to do with the AFF account. According to metadata, the AFF account was never even used—there were no communications or contacts sent to or from any other AFF accounts, and no photos or content were uploaded to it. The AFF account existed for less than a half-day, 16 years ago.Breitbart News obtained a copy of the signed letter from the former Bernie Moreno Companies vice president, Helder Rosa, confirming Ricci’s internship during the date in question and stating that duties assigned to interns included checking emails and replying to inquiries for senior management.
The AP did not include Rosa’s full quote, cutting pertinent information. Critically, the AP did not acknowledge that the email account was managed by staff and that multiple staffers in the company, including interns, had access to the email address used to create the AFF profile. The hit piece also did not acknowledge that the AFF account was never actually used.
The signed statement from Ricci, the former intern, reads:
I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago. I was one of the many people at the company with access to his public facing email account –Donald Trump has endorsed Moreno in the Senate race and is headlining a rally in support of his campaign in Ohio Saturday. The winner of the Tuesday, March 19 primary will face Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in November.
Trump is undeterred by the hit against Moreno and is standing firm with his endorsed candidate. His campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in a statement, “The leftwing media is obsessed with destroying anyone who supports the America First movement and this ridiculous slime job is simply more proof that Bernie Moreno is a threat to the entire swamp. It’s shameful and embarrassing that the AP ran with this story when they themselves were forced to acknowledge that they had no evidence showing that Bernie had anything to do with the account in question and that instead it was made by a former intern. The fake news is truly the enemy of the people!”
