Don Jr.: Establishment Desperate to Stop ‘America First Patriot’ Bernie Moreno in Ohio

Donald Trump Jr. said Friday night that the Republican establishment is working to “destroy” Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno because he threatens “the corrupt uniparty Swamp.”

Trump Jr. took to Twitter to call out the “RINO establishment” following a smear piece that the Associated Press (AP) published on Thursday ahead of Tuesday’s high-stakes Senate primary.

“The entire RINO establishment is doing everything in their power to try to destroy America First patriot Bernie Moreno because they know he is a threat to the corrupt uniparty Swamp!!!” he wrote.

The hit piece against Moreno, whom presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has endorsed, debunked allegations laid out in the story itself while “withholding critical evidence further eroding the tale’s validity,” as Breitbart News Capitol Hill Correspondent Bradley Jaye reported:

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.”

The story further collapsed on Saturday when the founder of AFF, Andrew Conru, disputed the AP’s reporting regarding geolocation data in the story. Notably, the AP reported that “geolocation data indicates that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”

“The AP report seeming to claim that the available data proves the account was created in Florida is inaccurate, as location information is manually entered during the signup process,” Conru wrote. “In reality, there appears to be no public geolocation data tied to the account.”

On Friday, Moreno shared a video from a campaign event on February 28, where he appeared alongside Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I get 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 before turning to the crowd. “But Bernie Moreno is going to do an incredible job representing the incredible people of Ohio in Washington, DC.”

“So make sure everyone knows Bernie is our guy; Bernie is my father’s guy. He’s the only America First candidate in the race,” he added.

In his post on Friday, Moreno noted that Trump Jr. “was right” in predicting “the swamp, mainstream media, and RINOs were coming after me, the same way they did” the 45th president.

“I wear attacks like a badge of honor. It means I’m a threat to the establishment,” Moreno added.