MAGA-backed Senate candidate linked to gay hookup website: report

A MAGA-backed candidate who's running in a critical Ohio primary election potentially has some questionable online baggage.

Bernie Moreno, who at one point backed LGBTQ rights before turning against them, has received former President Donald Trump's support.

But in his wake is the existence of a 2008 profile seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex” on a casual hookup website called Adult Friend Finder (AFF), according to The Associated Press.

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When prompted to answer to the account, Moreno's camp pinned blame on an intern who supposedly has taken the blame for posting the suggestive ad 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 in a statement provided by Moreno's attorney, Charles Harder.

Further, Harder, told the wire service that Moreno “had nothing to do with the AFF account.”

The AP reported that it was unable to independently confirm Ricci’s mea culpa and, when a reporter reached out for comment, he didn’t respond.

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The article noted that Ricci donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, citing campaign finance records.

The AP, relying on both leaked data and publicly available information from Adult Friend Finder, found that Moreno's profile was created and authenticated by "someone who had access to Moreno’s work email account."

Cybersecurity researcher and former National Security Agency hacker Jake Williams confirmed Moreno's work email address was found in the leaked data. "This is a telling example of how this data doesn’t just go away,” he told The AP.

The issue has Democrats seeing opportunity.

“Moreno would lead the charge to enact Trump’s MAGA agenda to repeal Obamacare and institute a national ban on abortion,” a narrator says in an ad spot from Duty and Country PAC, which is affiliated with a Democratic super PAC.

Trump, who has staked his chips on Moreno in a contest that includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan, is set to appear next to Moreno during a Saturday rally in Dayton, Ohio ahead of the March 19 primary.

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