Mike Pompeo

Nicholas Kamm/Pool, Getty Images

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo advised journalists on a call hosted by means of Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick and slammed Dr. Mehmet Oz’s ties to Turkey as raising “national security concerns.” Oz’s marketing campaign speedy denounced the remarks as equivalent to dual loyalty “tropes used in opposition to Catholics and Jews.”

Oz, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, is operating towards former hedge fund boos McCormick in the hotly contested GOP primary to interchange retiring Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA).

“We criticize American candidates all the time as a result of they didn’t vote,” Pompeo said on the call, according to the Hill. “That is different from that. No longer best did he now not have interaction within the American [process] however he engaged in the Turkish political process. That raises in my mind plenty of judgments about his priority.”

Pompeo was referring to a report from ABC News this week detailing security specialists’ considerations regarding Oz’s decision to vote within the 2018 Turkish elections – just two years after Turkey’s President Erdogan violently suppressed a coup and started a purge of critics.

“Possibly it’s all harmless, possibly it’s all straight up, however we and the people of Pennsylvania and the American citizens who he will be representing as one of the 100 participants of the USA Senate balloting on necessary national security matters need to take into account the scope and depth of his relationship with the Turkish government,” Pompeo delivered.

“This isn’t about whether or not it’s lawful, it’s about who is most fitted to be the following United States Senator from Pennsylvania that’s been represented through a patriotic American conservative for an quite long time,” Pompeo concluded.

McCormick also has deep ties to Trump’s world as his wife, Dina Powell, served as Trump’s deputy national safety advisor for strategy, which has helped fuel the divide among Trump loyalists in the race.

Oz’s marketing campaign quick denounced Pompeo’s remarks on Friday calling them “pathetic and xenophobic.”

“Now that he misplaced President Trump’s endorsement, he’s resorted to sad and desperate assaults which can be no different than the tropes used towards Catholics and Jews,” stated Oz’s communications director Brittany Yanick mentioned in a statement.

“Dr. Ozhas already said when elected to the Senate he would renounce his citizenship. There’s no safety issue in any way, and David McCormick is aware of that Dr. Oz.has maintained his twin citizenship to assist you to lend a hand take care of his mom who has Alzheimer’s and lives there.”

The publish Pompeo Says Trump-Backed Dr. Oz.Raises ‘National Safety Concerns’ — OzCampaign Slams As Dual Loyalty Trope first regarded on Mediaite.