Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed concern about Mehmet Oz’s relationship, approved by former President Trump in the Pennsylvania Senate race, with Turkey at a press briefing hosted by Oz’s main opponent in the race.
Pompeo, who supports Oz’s rival, Dave McCormick, in Keystone State, held a briefing the same day Trump is expected to trip to Pennsylvania for Oz. The briefing was first advertised by the McCormick campaign.
The former secretary of state, who serves under Trump, said McCormick was a “patriot”, unlike Oz, whom Pompeo accused of having ties to the Turkish government.
The briefing marked a remarkable escalation by Pompeo, who has fueled speculation in recent months that he is considering running for president in 2024. Trump is also expected to run for the White House.
“Dave would become an outstanding senator of the United States,” Pompeo said at the briefing.
“We criticize the American candidates all the time because they did not vote,” Pompeo said. “It simply came to our notice then. Not only does he not commit to the American one [process] but he is involved in the Turkish political process. This gives me a lot of judgment about his priority. “
ABC News reported for the first time on Wednesday that Oz, who holds Turkish citizenship, voted in Turkey’s 2018 elections, although he had previously said he had never run politically in the country “in any capacity”. . His campaign spokesman, Brittany Yannick, confirmed to ABC that Oz had voted in the election, but denied the vote was “political participation”.
Oz said he retained his Turkish citizenship to care for his “sick mother”, but said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected.
Pompeo said during the briefing that he wanted to answer people’s questions about concerns about Oz’s ties with Turkey, because if elected to Congress, he would receive a security clearance with much less control than civilians applying for permissions.
“Maybe it’s all innocent, maybe it’s all right, but we, the people of Pennsylvania and the Americans, whom he will represent as one of the 100 members of the United States Senate voting on important national security issues, need to understand the scope and depth of his relations with the Turkish government, “Pompeo said.
Oz also owns a property in Turkey and has signed an approval agreement with Turkish airlines, which Pompeo mentioned during the briefing.
The Turkish government has become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, and its relations with the United States have deteriorated as they have become more friendly to Russia.
“It’s not about whether it’s legal, it’s about who is best suited to be the next United States senator from Pennsylvania, who has been represented by a patriotic American conservative for an awful long time,” Pompeo said.
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Oz’s campaign responded to the remarks, calling them “pathetic and xenophobic.”
“These are pathetic and xenophobic attacks on Dr. Oz by David McCormick, who should be ashamed of himself,” campaign communications director Brittany Yannick said in a statement. “Now that he has lost President Trump’s approval, he is resorting to sad and desperate attacks that are no different from the tropes used against Catholics and Jews. Dr. Oz has already said that when he is elected to the Senate, he will renounce his citizenship. There is no security problem, and David McCormick knows that Dr. Oz has retained his dual citizenship to make it easier to care for his mother, who has Alzheimer’s and lives there.
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