Ohio GOP Senate candidate endorsed by Trump deleted tweets critical of the former president

CNN —

Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman running for the US Senate in Ohio, once said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Donald Trump. He’s called Trump a “fake Republican” who stokes “hatred and fear” and suggested that the former president’s popularity is the result of “ignorance in our society.”

In several previously unreported audio clips and deleted tweets, uncovered by a CNN KFile review of Moreno’s past statements, the Ohio Republican harshly criticized Trump.

But Moreno has since come to praise Trump and earned the former president’s endorsement as he tries for a second time to win the Republican nomination for the Senate, this time in an effort to oust Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Moreno now attacks the “wine-sipping country club Republicans” who are “offended by President Trump’s words.” He characterizes individuals imprisoned for Capitol riot-related offenses as “political prisoners,” claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and alleges collaboration between “big tech,” “the swamp,” the corporate media, and Democrats to rig the election.

Despite this, he previously congratulated President Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential win and after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021, Moreno posted “[Trump] deserves lots and lots of blame for this,” adding, “He didn’t calm tensions; no one (and certainly not me) has excuses [sic] that behavior.”

Moreno’s about-face is stark, but also reflects a broader trend among Republicans across the country, many of whom have been critical of Trump in the past only to later embrace him.

That includes Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who Trump endorsed instead of Moreno in 2022’s Senate primary. Vance once said publicly he did not vote for Trump in 2016