Reid rallies supporters amid controversy, calls for GOP unity
An update to the story on Moran's affidavit.
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An update on Moran’s affidavit
Below is an update to the story from yesterday on Matt Moran’s affidavit, breaking down his side of the John Reid controversy:
The documents released by Moran indicate that Jennings, the campaign manager for Reid, acknowledged knowing about the Tumblr account before the governor’s team contacted Reid.
According to the affidavit, Jennings implied to Moran during a meeting that he was uncertain about his summer work prospects and might need help lining up clients.
“Before any published news reports had the information, I showed his campaign manager in person the written summary I received and material that was live and available online,” Moran said. “The campaign manager acknowledged he knew about the Tumblr account; he commented that he might need help finding new clients.”
Jennings told Virginia Scope on Wednesday that he would need more time to respond when asked to confirm Moran’s statement.
Later in the evening, Jennings provided Virginia Scope with a comment on behalf of an advisor to the Reid campaign. The statement accuses Moran of omitting “penalty for perjury” language.
Mike Charnoff, a civil litigation attorney in Virginia, said that while it is true Moran’s attorney left out language about penalty under perjury, there could still be consequences for lying in the notarized document.
“It’s signed and notarized,” Charnoff said. “It’s even under oath. If you made a material misstatement here, there could be consequences for that.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me that someone would take the time and trouble to swear out a fact-intense affidavit, and then try to leave themselves a loophole by just not including the penalty of perjury language,” Charnoff continued. “These are the parties taking stands publicly as to what their testimony would be if there was a judicial proceeding. He’s basically laying down the gauntlet and saying, ‘I am prepared to swear an oath in a courtroom and testify to these things, that these things are true. So you should take my statement seriously.'”
Charnoff said that the notarized affidavit adds “gravitas” to Moran’s statements, more than a typical press release would.
Jennings did not respond to Virginia Scope’s follow up question asking if he wants to refute the accusations made by Moran in his affidavit.
Reid rallies supporters amid controversy, calls for GOP unity
HENRICO, Va. — In a scene reminiscent of Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign, Republican lieutenant governor nominee John Reid addressed hundreds of supporters in Western Henrico on Wednesday night, delivering a defiant, high-energy speech as he faces a swirl of controversy.
Reid, the first openly gay statewide candidate in Virginia history, stood before a cheering crowd at Atlas 42 just days after being accused of operating a Tumblr account that shared nude images of men — an allegation that has roiled Republican politics across the commonwealth.
With a tone of open defiance toward his party’s leader, Gov. Glenn Youngkin — who last week called on him to withdraw from the race — Reid used the moment to reaffirm his candidacy and urge unity within the fractured GOP ticket.
Supporters lined up at the entrance to the event more than an hour before it began, waving Reid signs and wearing campaign gear bearing his name. Notably absent from the venue was any visible campaign material for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the party’s nominee for governor, or Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is running for a second term.
Loud music played as guests filed in, grabbing drinks from the bar and food from a table in the back.
When Reid took the stage, with his partner Alonzo and former Gov. Jim Gilmore standing behind him, he wasted no time addressing the controversy that has dominated headlines in recent days.