HUNTINGTON – U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins released a statement, challenging West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to renounce Steve Bannon’s support for his campaign.
Jenkins’ statement was released after Bannon, the former special counselor to President Donald J. Trump, made comments about Trump’s adult children.
“After Steve Bannon’s vicious attacks on President Trump and his family, Patrick Morrisey should immediately disavow Bannon’s support,” he said. “If he refuses, West Virginians will know that what President Trump said of Bannon today is also true of Morrisey: 'he is only in it for himself.'”
Jenkins said that while it’s outrageous that Morrisey continues to stay silent as his top supporter wages a public campaign to destroy Trump’s presidency, it comes as no surprise—West Virginians will recall that Morrisey pointedly declined to endorse Donald Trump until months after he won the GOP nomination—the only RNC delegate from the Mountain State to take that stance.
“Now Republican primary voters have further confirmation that Patrick Morrisey cannot be trusted in the Senate to stand with President Trump when the chips are down,” Jenkins said.
Nachama Soloveichik, Morrisey’s campaign spokeswoman, said Morrisey has been endorsed by many conservatives throughout West Virginia and America because of his strong conservative record.
“Attorney General Morrisey does not support these attacks on President Trump and his family, and was proud to stand with President Trump in 2016 when they were both overwhelmingly elected in West Virginia and when he cast his vote for Trump in the Electoral College,” Soloveichik said. “Evan Jenkins is a fraud who supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 and stood by Barack Obama for years while Obama ran roughshod over West Virginia.”
Soloveichik said for two decades, Jenkins supported the Left’s agenda, including cap-and-trade and Obamacare, and he should apologize to West Virginia for supporting such harmful policies for so long.
“West Virginia deserves better than liberal career politician Evan Jenkins,” Soloveichik said.
In a press release, Jenkins said Morrisey refused to do the right thing by cutting ties with Bannon, responding instead with a meaningless statement that took pains to avoid offending – or even mentioning – his campaign’s biggest backer.
“Putting aside Bannon’s obvious attempts to bring down Trump’s presidency, Patrick Morrisey is sticking with his top supporter even after he insulted the intelligence and patriotism of the president’s children,” Jenkins said. “Where is Morrisey’s decency? He clearly has an ulterior motive: either he continues to harbor ill will against the president – demonstrated by his months-long refusal to back Trump in 2016 – or he is calculating that, as long as he stays quiet until the controversy blows over, Bannon will continue to raise money for his campaign.”
Jenkins said whatever his motives, West Virginians will conclude that Morrisey simply does not share West Virginia values if he continues to stand with Bannon instead of the president.
“Again, I call on him to renounce Bannon’s support,” Jenkins said.
Bannon was quoted in the book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” as saying it was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for Donald Trump Jr., brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort to meet with a Russian individual in June 2016 in hopes of getting information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Bannon also told author Michael Wolff that he believed Donald Trump Jr. also brought the operative to his father.
Bannon also described Ivanka Trump as “dumb as a brick.”