Now-Deleted Anti-Trump Troll Account Connected to Frank LaRose Office

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose speaks at a campaign stop at The Mandalay event cente
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

A now-deleted troll account on X (formally known as Twitter), reportedly belonged to a staffer with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the latter of whom is desperately attempting to brand himself as pro-Trump despite firmly establishing himself as a leader of the Never Trump movement in the past.

LaRose, who is running for U.S. Senate in a three-way Republican primary against state Sen. Matt Dolan and businessman Bernie Moreno, recently raised eyebrows after endorsing former President Donald Trump for president as one of his first actions as a Senate candidate. Many who have followed LaRose immediately questioned the authenticity of the endorsement, given the fact that LaRose firmly declared himself a leader of the #NeverTrump movement, tracing back to 2016. A now-deleted March 1, 2016, post from LaRose, for example, showcased the anti-Trump sentiments perfectly, as LaRose hyped a “manure message” to Trump — the then-candidate — from Ohio. The message read, “NO TRUMP,” presumably in manure. LaRose ended the tweet with the hashtag, #NeverTrump:

However, LaRose’s authenticity is coming under even more scrutiny following the revelation that a current senior communications staffer for his official office deleted his entire Twitter account after being exposed for “repeatedly” targeting the former president.

“Frank the Fraud and his entire RINO team have always been anti-Trump,” Republican strategist Andy Surabian said, sharing screenshots from the account Rnich99, who is believed to belong to Rob Nichols, who is listed as a media contact for LaRose’s office.

In one message, Rnich99 asks, “How many times has DeSantis been impeached? [sic] how many rap settlements as he agreed to? [sic] has he spent $40 million in campaign donor money to pay a bunch of lawyers for his own transgressions?”

In another, Rnich99 asks Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel if there is a “liable for rapey stuff provision for debate participation,” spouting similar anti-Trump sentiments in a string of other posts, as well as mocking Trump’s appearance.

“Turns out that a burner account that is one of the most vile towards me and Trump on this website is operated by a senior comms staffer for the DeSantis aligned Ohio sec of state @FrankLaRose,” Alex Bruesewitz, Trump supporter and CEO of X Strategies, said following the revelation, calling on LaRose to “disavow his staffer immediately!”

“Ohio is MAGA country, the great people of Ohio won’t be happy about this!” he exclaimed.

“@FrankLaRose’s communications’ guy has been attacking Trump since LaRose announced his campaign for Senate. LaRose clearly knew what his spokesman was saying,” Richard Grenell said.

“These phony, duplicitous political tricks are exactly why we must send outsiders to DC,” he added.

Breitbart News reached out to Nichols for a comment but did not receive a response.

The revelation comes as LaRose attempts to rebrand himself as pro-Trump, despite standing as a proud member of the Never Trump movement for years, refusing to endorse him even when he stood as the Republican nominee in 2016, deeming Trump “very divisive and negative.” However, it seems LaRose has had the tendency to pull back on his overt disdain for Trump when it is politically expedient for him personally.

When running for Secretary of State the next year in 2017, LaRose publicly claimed he voted for Trump in the 2016 election, but as Breitbart News noted, “there is no evidence in the public sphere that he actually did that or said that until later when he was running for another higher office in Ohio.”

He carried this overall anti-Trump position well into Trump’s presidency and turned up the heat again after winning his general election. In early 2019, for instance, LaRose cast doubt on Trump’s respect of the First Amendment.

“Several times in my life I’ve raised my right hand and swore to uphold the Constitution, and part of that is the First Amendment,” LaRose said at the time. “I guess that’s one area where I often differ with the president. Some of the things he says about the press being the enemy of the people, I just don’t agree with. I think that it’s dangerous.”

Months later, LaRose referred to a Trump tweet — in which the former president said leftists such as Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” — as “racist.”

The Associated Press

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on March 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

LaRose told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s editorial board:

The president says things that I would never condone, that I believe are false. The most recent tweet is racist — whether it was intended that way or not, I’m not in the man’s mind and heart. I don’t know, but that’s how it sounds to me.

Despite that, LaRose’s campaign said the Senate hopeful stands by his past remarks and touted that he is “proud to be the only incumbent Secretary of State in the nation to be endorsed by President Trump.”

The campaign added:

He’s also proud to have worked on the President’s inaugural advance team, assisting the Trump family with security and event logistics while Bernie Moreno was still calling himself a Never Trumper. Unlike Bernie, Frank’s not paying people to kiss up to the President or to scrub his past critical statements. Frank very clearly said in his endorsement of the President that they don’t always agree on style or substance, and the President expressed his appreciation for Frank’s support at a two-hour dinner they had a couple of weeks ago with Ohio’s elected leaders who support the President. Frank has praised President Trump’s policies, leadership and accomplishments, and he’s not afraid to say it when they disagree. He looks forward to working with President Trump as Ohio’s next United States Senator.

It remains unclear if LaRose will disavow the anti-Trump remarks made by a staffer for his Secretary of State’s office under the username Rnich99. It also remains unclear if he would revert to his anti-Trump sentiments as he has in the past, should he rise through the ranks and make it to the Senate.

Breitbart News spoke exclusively to LaRose challenger Bernie Moreno, whom Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) endorsed during the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, in July, discussing why the establishment opposes him.

WATCH — U.S. Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno Takes on GOP Establishment: “They Know I Can’t be Bought”:

Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News

“They know I can’t be bought,” Morena said, stating during the interview that “we gotta get to the point where Republicans recognize that President Trump’s gonna be our nominee.”

“Looking at Democrats, they’ve all recognized that Biden — objectively the worst president in the history of America — is their nominee. They’ve all coalesced behind it. We got to do the same thing at this point and coalesce behind President Trump,” he said, adding, “We gotta get him back.”

WATCH — U.S. Republican Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno: Trump’s “Gonna Be Our Nominee”:

Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News

WATCH the full interview below:
Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News

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