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Columbus, OH – After reporting revealed Bernie Moreno is being “dogged” by a “string of inconsistencies” and “dubious claims,” including lies about “escap[ing]” socialism, lies about his business origin story, and lies about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute, it’s clear Moreno’s candidacy is being totality eclipsed by his lies.

Refresh your memory on Bernie Moreno’s latest lies:

• Bernie Moreno claims he built his car dealership business “all on his own” and without “handouts” – but in reality, Moreno received an insider deal on his first dealership after Mercedes-Benz strong-armed the owner into selling it to him at a “dramatically reduced price.”

• Bernie Moreno is relying on “dubious” claims that he came to the United States from Colombia to “escape” socialism to “form a central part of [his] campaign message,” but new reporting found that Moreno is lying and his statements “do not withstand historical scrutiny.”

• Bernie Moreno repeatedly “bragged about eliminating” Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s Board of Trustees – but reports show “the timing doesn’t line up.”Not only did the Confucius Institute continue to operate for “three years” after Moreno left the board, Moreno “approved university budgets that funded the program” totaling nearly $80,000. 

SEE ALSO: Questions Bernie Moreno Must Answer After New Report Exposes He’s Been Lying About How He Started His First Dealership; NEW: Bernie Moreno Caught Lying About “Escaping” Socialism; Questions Bernie Moreno Must Answer After Multiple Lies Surfaced Last Week; One Week of Moreno Refusing to Answer Questions After Reporting Exposed Lies About His Business Origin Story; WHAT OHIOANS ARE SAYING: Bernie Moreno Is A Liar; NEW: Moreno Lying About Getting Rid of Confucius Institute

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Moreno Voted To Ban Abortion In Ohio Without Exceptions For Rape And Incest Last Year

Columbus, OH – Bernie Moreno has repeatedly supported a national abortion ban, which would overturn the will of Ohioans who voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights last year. Moreno has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and voted to ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest in Ohio last year by voting against Issue 1.

Reminder of Moreno’s on-the-record support for a national abortion ban: 

• Moreno has repeatedly said he supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans.

• Moreno said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and that he is “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.” 

• Moreno voted to maintain Ohio’s dangerous abortion ban and dumped $100,000 of his personal fortune into the effort to defeat Issue 1, which enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution. 

• Moreno celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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Columbus, OH – It’s been another week of bad headlines for Bernie Moreno, who is facing “the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign.” New reporting today revealed that Moreno is lying about getting rid of Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute, noting “the timing doesn’t line up.” This is yet another “dubious claim” from Moreno which follows reporting on his lies about “escap[ing]” socialism and his lies about his business origin story. 

NEED-TO-KNOW THIS WEEK:

• New reporting revealed that Bernie Moreno lied about getting rid of Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s Board of Trustees. 

• There’s a long list of questions piling up for Bernie Moreno about his “dubious claims” and the “inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign” that he refuses to answer. 

• And Ohioans are picking up on this pattern of Moreno’s lies… Read in the Columbus Dispatch: “Bernie Moreno thinks lying is OK”

🤥 FRIDAY, LIE-DAY: New reporting today exposed *another* lie from Bernie Moreno. Moreno repeatedly “bragged about eliminating” Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s Board of Trustees – but “the timing doesn’t line up.” Not only did the Confucius Institute continue to operate for “three years” after Moreno left the board, Moreno “approved university budgets that funded the program” totaling nearly $80,000. 

❓ CAN BERNIE MORENO PLZ STEP UP TO THE MIC: There’s a long list of questions piling up for Bernie Moreno that he refuses to answer – whether it’s his lies about “escap[ing]” socialism, his lies about his business origin story, or his lies about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute, Moreno has built his candidacy on claims that simply are not true and he owes Ohioans answers. To refresh your memory, here’s that ever-growing list:

1. Why did you claim you never took handouts when reporting shows you got your dealership at a steep discount?

2. Did your campaign refuse to provide information about the 2005 sale because it shows you are lying when you say you “didn’t take handouts” and will you make documents around the deal available?

3. Are there any other details about your time in business that you wish to clarify for the people of Ohio?

4. Why are you lying about escaping socialism?

5. Why are you lying about shutting down Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute? 

💨 WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S LIAR: Ohioans are noticing that Bernie Moreno has a not-so-sneaky habit of misrepresenting the facts. After Moreno was caught making “dubious claims” last week, a new letter to the editor in the Columbus Dispatch called out Bernie Moreno for lying to Ohioans.  

❌ BERNIE’S ABORTION BAN: After Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to pass November’s Issue 1 and enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, Ohio’s abortion ban is set to be rolled back – but not if Moreno has his say. Ohio’s dangerous abortion ban may soon be off the books, after Ohio’s Attorney General called it unconstitutional in a court filing due to the majority of Ohioans voting to pass November’s Issue 1 and enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution – but Bernie Moreno is a broken record when it comes to supporting a national abortion ban and overturning the will of Ohioans. And don’t forget, Moreno said he’s “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.” 

 🗞️ WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING / WATCHING:

• Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno said an Ohio Confucius Institute closed under his watch. It didn’t

• Politico Playbook: “Bernie Moreno said an Ohio Confucius Institute closed under his watch. It didn’t,” by the Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller: “[T]he timing doesn’t line up. While [BERNIE] MORENO did chair the board, his term expired three years before Cleveland State shuttered its Confucius Institute. He also held leadership positions when trustees approved university budgets that funded the program.”

• WVXU: “Moreno carries baggage into the race — his anti-abortion rights views, his sometimes-sketchy business dealings, and some dubious claims about his family escaping socialism in Colombia when he was a child.”

• The Guardian:  “His [Moreno’s] campaign trail rhetoric is not without its questionable claims.”

• CNN: “Democrats are already hammering him [Moreno] over abortion after he opposed last year’s ballot measure approved by 57% of Ohio voters that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution…Moreno’s support for a national ban on most abortions…suggests he wants to overturn the will of Ohio voters.”

• Washington Post: “Moreno was appointed to two government boards, and his business benefited from that service, the AP reports.”

• American Journal: “Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno accepted a large donation from an individual implicated in a dark money bribery scheme. According to FEC filings, Moreno took $3,300 from Brooke Bodney, a Republican fundraiser and lobbyist. Federal prosecutors say that in 2018, Bodney helped facilitate the transferring of funds from FirstEnergy, an Ohio utility company, to political groups controlled by state Rep. Larry Householder.” 

🐤 TWEET OF THE WEEK: 

🎶 CODA: “How can you tell if this guy [Moreno] is lying? If he’s moving his lips.”

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Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno Said An Ohio Confucius Institute Closed Under His Watch. It Didn’t 

Columbus, OH – While Bernie Moreno has repeatedly “bragged about eliminating” Cleveland State’s Confucius Institute while serving on the university’s Board of Trustees, a new report today revealed Moreno is lying and “the timing doesn’t line up.” Not only did the Confucius Institute continue to operate for “three years” after Moreno left the board, Moreno “approved university budgets that funded the program” totaling nearly $80,000.  The Dispatch notes this is “the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign,” including lies that Moreno “escap[ed]” socialism and lies about his business origin story.

Read more: 

Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno said an Ohio Confucius Institute closed under his watch. It didn’t

Haley BeMiller

April 5, 2024

• “I chaired the board of trustees at Cleveland State University, and I’m very proud of the fact that when I was there, we got rid of our Confucius Institute,” Moreno said during a campaign event in March 2023. “We made certain that we focused everybody on student achievement, and we respected free speech on campus.”

• He recounted the same story in Strongsville months later: “I was a chairman of the board here at Cleveland State. I was vice chair at (Cuyahoga Community College). I’m very proud of the things that I did there, making certain that at Cleveland State we honored free speech. We got rid of our Confucius Institute. We didn’t allow our kids to be brainwashed.”

• But the timing doesn’t line up. While Moreno did chair the board, his term expired three years before Cleveland State shuttered its Confucius Institute. He also held leadership positions when trustees approved university budgets that funded the program.

• While Moreno bragged about eliminating Cleveland State’s institute, it didn’t close until 2021. He was vice chairman when trustees passed a 2017 budget that gave roughly $38,000 to the institute. The board, with Moreno as chairman, reupped that funding for the 2018 fiscal year. Both budgets passed on voice votes with no documented opposition by Moreno, according to board meeting minutes.

• Taken together, Moreno’s claims appear to overstate his involvement in the institute’s closure. 

• It’s the latest in a string of inconsistencies that have dogged his campaign. Moreno said his family fled socialism in Colombia, but the Guardian found that his home country was under a different form of government when he was born. And while Moreno opposes affirmative action policies, he bought his first dealership at a discount because Mercedes-Benz wanted more minority owners, Business Insider reported.

• “The more Ohioans learn about Moreno, the less they trust him,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who ran against Moreno in the primary, posted on X last month.

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Moreno Said He Is “Absolute Pro-Life, No Exceptions” And Spent $100,000 Of His Personal Fortune To Defeat Issue 1 

Columbus, OH – This week, Ohio’s Attorney General wrote in a court filing that Ohio’s dangerous abortion ban is unconstitutional due to an overwhelming majority of Ohioans supporting November Issue 1, which enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution. While Ohio’s dangerous abortion ban may be off the books,  Bernie Moreno has already said he would overturn the will of voters by supporting a national abortion ban, has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and that he is “absolute pro-life, no exceptions, and opposed Issue 1. 

“Bernie Moreno supports a national abortion ban, which would overturn the will of Ohioans who overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive rights,” said ODP spokesperson Katie Smith. 

Reminder of Moreno’s on-the-record support for a national abortion ban: 

• Moreno supports a national abortion ban that would overturn the will of Ohioans.

• Moreno has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and that he is “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.” 

• Moreno dumped $100,000 of his personal fortune into the effort to defeat Ohio’s November Issue 1, which enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution. If Moreno had his way, Ohio’s dangerous abortion ban would still be on the books. 

• Moreno celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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