W. Va. rep calls on Senate challenger to renounce Bannon’s support

West Virginia Rep. Evan Jenkins (R) is calling on his primary challenger to renounce his support from former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon after the Breitbart News chief was quoted in a book attacking President Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

Jenkins on Wednesday called on Patrick Morrisey (R) to “renounce” Bannon’s support for his campaign. Bannon backed Morrisey’s primary campaign last June.

“After Steve Bannon’s vicious attacks on President Trump and his family, Patrick Morrisey should immediately disavow Bannon’s support,” Jenkins said in his statement.

“If he refuses, West Virginians will know that what President Trump said of Bannon today is also true of Morrisey: ‘he is only in it for himself,'” Jenkins added.

After Steve Bannon’s attacks on President Trump and his family, Patrick Morrisey should immediately disavow Bannon’s support. If he refuses, WV will know what President Trump said of Bannon today is also true of Morrisey—he is only in it for himself. #WVSEN pic.twitter.com/eSZAMnaWHX

— Evan Jenkins (@EvanJenkinsWV) January 3, 2018

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Bannon was quoted Wednesday in an excerpt from an upcoming book by Michael Wolff attacking the Trump family. Bannon reportedly said of a June meeting Trump Jr. took last year at Trump Tower along with Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort with a Russian lawyer that promised “dirt” on Hillary Clinton that it was “treasonous” and there was “zero” chance his father, then-candidate Donald Trump, didn’t know it took place.

Jenkins’s statement goes on to attack Morrisey for declining to publicly endorse Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign until months after the Republican National Convention. Morrisey did not attack Trump but declined to support a GOP candidate until around the convention.

Jenkins’s campaign has sought to paint Morrisey as a backer of the #NeverTrump movement, which sought to block Trump from obtaining the GOP nomination. Morrisey’s campaign called the accusation “laughable.”

“For months, Patrick Morrisey was #NeverTrump … and now he’s lying about it,” a video created by Jenkins’s campaign in August said.

“This is laughable coming from Evan Jenkins, a former liberal Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton, cap-and-trade, ObamaCare, taxpayer-funded abortions and gun control,” said Morrisey’s spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik at the time.

Jenkins and Morrisey are battling in a heated GOP primary; the election will be held in May and the winner will face the winner of the Democratic primary in November. Sen. Joe Manchin (D) currently holds the seat.