Sun 10 April 2022:
Former US President Donald Trump endorsed celebrity cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz’s candidacy Saturday for the American Senate.
Trump on Saturday evening endorsed Mehmet Öz in Pennsylvania’s crowded Republican Senate primary, ending months of jockeying for his support.
In a statement, Trump said his decision was “all about winning elections” as he formally backed the Senate hopeful who is best known as the host of daytime TV’s “The Dr. Oz Show.”
“The Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a tremendous opportunity to Save America by electing the brilliant and well-known Dr. Mehmet Öz for the United States Senate,” Trump said, in part. Later, at a rally in North Carolina, he said: “You know when you’re on television for 18 years, that’s like a poll. That means people like you.”
“Literally, as I’m walking up we endorsed Dr. Oz, I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a tremendous guy.”
Donald Trump endorses @DrOz for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania during an interview with Newsmax’s @JohnFBachman.
MORE: https://t.co/EMAgKBIuFO pic.twitter.com/vLLhf78z23
— Newsmax (@newsmax) April 10, 2022
Öz had been competing for Trump’s endorsement in the May 17 primary against former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, whose wife, Dina Powell, served in Trump’s administration. The two had gone to extensive lengths to win over the former president, who remains deeply popular with the Republican base and has been wooed by candidates in primary races across the country.
Trump made clear that electability was top of mind. In his statement, he noted that Öz was a well-known personality who has “lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected, and smart.”
“Perhaps most importantly, I believe that Mehmet Öz will be the one most able to win the General Election against a Radical Left Democrat looking to do unthinkable harm to our Country,” he added. “Women, in particular, are drawn to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel. I have seen this many times over the years. They know him, believe in him, and trust him,” he said.
When Öz interviewed Trump on his show in 2016, Trump told him at one point that his wife, Melania Trump, was “a big fan” of the show.
Öz also has a long personal history with Trump. Öz said in a recent interview that he had first met Trump in 2004 or 2005 when he asked Trump to use his golf course for an event for Öz’s children’s charity. Trump agreed. After that, they saw each other intermittently at social events before Öz interviewed Trump about his health during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, in conversations, has often praised Öz for his positive treatment on the show. “He even said that I was in extraordinary health, which made me like him even more (although he also said I should lose a couple of pounds!),” Trump wrote in his statement.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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