Republican businessman Tim Sheehy, who is running for U.S. Senate in Montana, reportedly hired a staffer whose social media account liked and shared racist posts.
The Daily Beast on Saturday published an exclusive piece alleging that the candidate "hired a campaign staffer with social media accounts and public statements emblematic of the fringe far right."
"At first glance, Caleb Oriet’s social media accounts look typical of a young member of the fringe, online right, featuring likes and reposts of far-right influencers and white nationalists expressing incendiary and bigoted views about racial and religious minorities," the report states, noting that Oriet is a self-proclaimed “Anglo-Saxon Protestant” as well as a “menace to society."
"But Oriet isn’t just a denizen of the far-right fringes of social media. He’s also a staffer for one of the Republican Party’s top candidates to flip control of the U.S. Senate this year," the article continues.
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According to the outlet's analysis of Federal Election Commission records, "Oriet is being paid by the campaign of Tim Sheehy, who is running against Sen. Jon Tester (D) in Montana."
"Since January, he has collected five paychecks, totaling $8,313," the report states. "Sheehy—a charismatic former Navy SEAL turned wealthy businessman—is preparing for a bruising face-off against Tester in what’s gearing up to be one of the most competitive Senate elections in the country. As Republicans try to retake the Senate majority, top GOP campaign brass is throwing their weight behind Sheehy as their best shot to defeat an incumbent Democrat."
The report comes at a time when Sheehy is already facing problems associated with negative press. While Sheehy has made his service with the elite fighting force in Iraq a centerpiece of his Senate campaign in Montana in a race that could decide the majority, the Washington Post has found some inconsistencies in his account of his time as a SEAL.
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