Republicans are eager to regain the Senate majority this year and Ohio offers a prime opportunity to pick up a critical seat via AP News.
However, ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, there are concerns inside the GOP that Bernie Moreno might emerge with the nomination. After vaulting into the top tier of contenders with a coveted endorsement from Donald Trump, Moreno — who has shifted from a public supporter of LGBTQ rights to a hardline opponent is confronting questions about the existence of a 2008 profile seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex” on a casual sexual encounters website called Adult Friend Finder.
“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photo-less profile under the username “nardo19672,” according to an Associated Press review of records made public through a massive and well-publicized data breach of the website. Records also show the profile was last accessed about six hours after it was created.
The AP review confirmed that someone with access to Moreno’s email account created the profile, though the AP could not definitively confirm whether Moreno himself created it. Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month.
Well, on Thursday evening, a couple of days after the AP first asked Moreno’s campaign about the account, the candidate’s lawyer said a former intern created the account as a prank. The lawyer provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”
“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci said. The AP couldn’t independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he didn’t immediately respond to messages left for him on multiple phone numbers listed to him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.
Seven people who are intimately aware with discussions about how to handle the situation say that senior Republican operatives and elected leaders in Washington and Ohio are frustrated by Moreno’s potential vulnerability. They want to remain anonymous so as not to annoy Trump or his supporters. They said that certain party officials were so concerned about Moreno’s candidacy that they requested an analysis of data to ascertain his possible involvement.
