The Arizona Republican candidate endorsed by President Donald J. Trump in the Aug. 2 Senate primary blasted state Attorney General Mark Brnovich for his repeated suggestions that he is endorsed by Trump — a pattern so flagrant it drew a cease-and-desist letter from Trump’s legal team.
“Brnovich is lying, claiming he has President Trump’s support,” said Blake Masters, the former president of Thiel Capital, the family investment fund of tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
“Now, Trump’s lawyers have legally warned Brnovich to stop scamming donors,” Masters said. “Arizona deserves better.”
The Washington Post reported that the letter was sent by Trump’s attorneys:
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has spent months groundlessly telling Republicans that they can be on “Trump’s Team” or “Endorse Trump for President in 2024” by giving to his U.S. Senate campaign.
“Are you turning your back on Pres. Trump?” one Brnovich fundraising ad asked last year. “Renew your 2022 membership before it is too late.”
Such appeals pushed the actual team of advisers around Trump to a breaking point in June, after Trump endorsed Brnovich’s rival, Blake Masters, for the Senate seat in Arizona. In a cease-and-desist letter obtained by The Washington Post, an attorney for Save America, Trump’s political action committee, threatened legal action if Brnovich did not stop using Trump’s image and name in misleading ways.
Trump’s lawyer pointed to a recent email with the subject line “ACCOUNT TERMINATION NOTICE” that threatened potential donors with losing “[a]ny chance of continuing to receive our Trump polls, Trump rally alerts, and 2024 Endorsement opportunities” if they did not give money to Brnovich.
In an email to reporters, the Masters campaign asked rhetorically if Brnovich’s faux Trump endorsement was a sign of desperation.
“As Attorney General, Mark Brnovich is supposed to protect Arizonans from fraud. Instead, Brnovich has been misleading donors, implying that President Trump supports him — a lie that prompted Trump’s lawyers to send a cease and desist. (Yikes.),” the campaign wrote.
“It’s clear that, as Mark Brnovich continues to plummet in the polls, his legal ethics have gone out the window,” the campaign wrote.
“This leaves us wondering: If Mark Brnovich is willing to deceive his own voters to win, what will he do once in office?”
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Neil W. McCabe is the national political editor of The Star News Network based in Washington. He is an Army Reserve public affairs NCO and an Iraq War veteran. Send him news tips: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter, TruthSocial & GETTR: @ReporterMcCabe
Photo “Blake Masters” by Blake Masters for Senate. Background Photo “Mark Brnovich and Donald Trump” by Mark Brnovich.
