“Maybe it’s all innocent, maybe it’s all straight up, but we and the people of Pennsylvania and the Americans who he will be representing as one of a hundred members of the United States Senate voting on important national security matters need to understand the scope and depth of his relationship with the Turkish government,” Pompeo said.
Oz campaign spokeswoman Brittany Yanick called the criticisms from McCormick’s campaign “pathetic and xenophobic.” She asserted that his Turkish citizenship posed no security threat to the United States and noted that Oz “has already said when elected to the Senate he would renounce his citizenship.” She did not respond to questions about whether Oz voted in any US elections in 2018.
Yanick confirmed the photo’s authenticity, telling CNN that “voting in an election is far different from being actively engaged in the political work of the Turkish government, which Dr. Oz has never been involved with.”
“Now that (McCormick) lost President Trump’s endorsement, he’s resorted to sad and desperate attacks that are no different than the tropes used against Catholics and Jews,” Yanick said in a statement to CNN.
And in one McCormick TV ad released last month, a man speaking directly to the camera said that Oz “was in the Turkish army for cryin’ out loud.”
“Mehmet Oz chose to serve in the Turkish army over the US army,” Szymanski told CNN. “These are simple facts, not campaign attacks, and his refusal to address these legitimate issues demonstrates why Pennsylvanians can’t trust him.”
During’s Friday’s news conference, Pompeo acknowledged that Oz’s Turkish citizenship does not legally bar him from serving in the US Senate but said the information was still relevant for voters making up their minds.
“This isn’t about whether it’s lawful, it’s about whether he is best suited to be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania that’s been represented by a patriotic American conservative for an awfully long time,” Pompeo said. McCormick and Oz are among several Republicans competing for the party nomination to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.
Pompeo’s support for McCormick — a fellow West Point cadet who graduated one year behind the Kansas Republican — represents a notable break with the former President. Pompeo, who has emerged as a potential 2024 candidate, served Trump first as his CIA director and later as secretary of state.
CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed to this report.
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