CLEVELAND – As a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, businessman Bernie Moreno drops near former President Donald Trump’s trademark.
Moreno, a car dealer and blockchain technology entrepreneur from the Cleveland area, puts himself in the same vein. Last month, Moreno submitted to what has been described as a ‘Hunger Games’ competition for Trump’s support during a private meeting he and three rivals had with the former president in Florida.
But five years ago, Moreno wanted nothing to do with Trump because he was waiting for the Republican presidential nomination and the White House.
According to emails obtained by NBC News, Moreno accused Trump of being an “insane” and a “maniac” in correspondence with a national Republican fundraising consultant who asked for donations. Moreno said he would “ask for a rally” during a forthcoming meeting with the pope, in which Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, then speaker of the House, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, would appear as saviors of the Republican. Party. ‘
And he suggested he stop donating to the national party if Trump became his leader.
“I’m a true believer in the party! But … if Donald Trump is nominated, I’ll believe a hostile person will take over and no longer identify with that new GOP,” Moreno said in March 2016. an exchange written. , responding to a request that he meet with the then Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, during a visit to Cleveland. Moreno said he would be out of state.
“I totally get the position Reince is in and he’s doing the best he can with an insane person entering the party,” Moreno added. “Afterwards it could / should have been done early, but I do not blame anyone for that. Afterwards is always 20/20.”
Moreno prophesies the email prophetically: “The worst part for me,” he writes, “I think trump can beat Hillary!”
A month later, when Trump intensified his anxiety over the nomination in an area that began with 17 candidates, fundraising consultant Moreno followed up, acknowledging the concern “about the situation at the presidential level” and wondering if Moreno would possibly contribute to a fund for Senate candidates.
“Seeing a future where trump is the leader of what used to be my party, I’d put myself off,” Moreno replied. “I will support individual candidates, but can not support a party led by the maniac.”
Moreno’s campaign, in response to questions about the email, forwarded additional emails from the correspondence. One of them included that the consultant spoke with Moreno about “a very strange place we are in” and said that in March 2016 no one would expect it to be where we are.
Moreno’s campaign also noted that the consultant is now raising money for one of Moreno’s GOP primary opponents, Jane Timken, former chairman of the state Republican Party.
“This email exchange was with Jane Timken’s current fundraiser,” said Parker Briden, Moreno campaign manager. “At the time, the fundraiser was raising money for the RNC when these five-year-old emails were exchanged.”
“Bernie donated more than $ 50,000 to the RNC and related entities in the Trump 2016 cycle,” Briden added. “It includes thousands of dollars from after this conversation – to support Republicans up and down. He was obviously on fire and disappointment years ago, but he supported Donald Trump, donated to him and is excited for his agenda.”
The donation to Trump comes in October during an event in Cleveland for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising venture with the RNC, a spokesman for the Moreno campaign said.
Moreno raised money for Rubio’s presidential bid and contributed early in the 2016 cycle to the White House campaign of John Kasich, then governor of Ohio. His company also gave $ 20,000 to the host committee of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland before it was announced that Trump would be the nominee.
His initial skepticism about Trump does not make Moreno unique among Republicans who want to succeed GOP senator Rob Portman, who announced in January that he did not want to run for re-election.
Former treasurer Josh Mandel also supported Rubio for the first time and Timken supported Kasich. But Mandel and Timken will eventually have strong ties to the Trump network. Mandel did it through the political assistants he lent to Trump for the 2016 general election, Timken through her years as Trump’s hand-elected head of the Republican Party.
Both spent the early days of developing primary management trying to outdo each other on who is most loyal to Trump.
As Briden noted, Moreno, despite denying the GOP in his fundraising email, made his contribution to other party leaders and organizations in the run-up to Trump’s election. According to the Federal Electoral Commission, he gave $ 10,000 each to Ryan’s super PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The following year, when the 2018 midterm campaigns began, Moreno was a leading donor to the successful House campaign of Representative Anthony Gonzalez, the former NFL wide receiver and standout in the Ohio State Buckeyes. Gonzalez – one of ten Republicans who voted to accuse Trump this year of inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol – is now considered one of the most despicable figures in Trump’s political career. Timken was also a trusted ally of Gonzalez who spoke favorably in the weeks following the accusation against him before turning the course a month later and asking him to resign over what she called an ‘unlawful decision’.
In an interview with Cleveland’s NBC affiliate WKYC in April 2019, Moreno corrected the interviewer when asked about his support for Trump.
“No, my daughter is working on Trump 2020,” Moreno said. “And it sets her free. We’re having a powerful debate on politics at home, and my daughter is working on the Trump campaign. That does not mean I support the Trump campaign.
A spokesman said Monday Moreno did not want to overshadow his daughter’s professional work.
Today, Moreno shamelessly leans in Trump. He sprinkled his official campaign launch last week with other gestures to Trump and his supporters. He is endorsed by Trump loyalist Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany, and his steering committee includes allies of Trump with Ohio ties, including Rev. Darrell Scott and former White House Assistant Ja’Ron Smith. Once a GOP donor who wanted his party to cancel Trump, he is now a vocal defender.
“Big Tech companies have teamed up to wipe out President Donald J. Trump from the Internet because they hate what he represents,” Moreno wrote on his website. “If they can silence him, what will they do to the rest of us if we step out of line?”