dr Oz has accused his leading rival in the Pennsylvania Republican Senate of relying on money from “Clinton-loving Democrats” – but now he’s facing accusations of hypocrisy after, with the help of a billionaire friend of Bill Clinton’s, he saved hundreds of thousands of… collected dollars.
The battle for the Republican nomination heats up as the TV doctor confronts former hedge fund CEO David McCormick.
Both are vying for Donald Trump’s support. Both are accused of having no contact with the party base due to their connections to Hollywood and Wall Street.
And both have blamed each other for being comfortable with the Clintons.
The latest salvo came with a report that sugar billionaire Pepe Fanjul was hosting a $250,000-a-ticket event at his Palm Beach farm in support of Mehmet Oz.
Fanjul is a prominent Republican donor but is also known for being close to the Clintons, and his name appeared in the infamous “Black Book” of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s contacts.
McCormick’s supporters shouted hypocrisy.
A Trump World source said: “Like the hypocritical con man he really is, Oz has repeatedly attacked McCormick for receiving donations from former work colleagues who are not registered Republicans, but who do you see when you peek behind Oz’s curtain ?
Hollywood anti-Trump leftists, Hillary Clinton mega-donors and Jeffrey Epstein associates
“There’s nothing about Oz that doesn’t raise big red flags with Republican voters.”
TV doctor Mehmet Oz (left) and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick are frontrunners in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary. But ties to Hollywood and Wall Street have meant they’ve tried to portray the other as members of an elite that the Republican base doesn’t understand
Jose “Pepe” Fanjul (center, wearing sunglasses) and his brother Alphonso (second from right) welcomed former President Bill Clinton (right) to their yacht in September
Pepe Fanjul was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein and was pictured in 2006 with the late pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell’s accomplice
The mega-donor brothers who fled Fidel Castro and built a billion-dollar sugar empire in Florida
Alphonso and Jose “Pepe” Fanjul are worth at least $8 billion
Born into the aristocracy of pre-Revolution Cuba, the Fanjuls entertained the upper classes at their Havana mansion, paid for by their father’s sugar business on the Caribbean island – including hosting parties for Britain’s abdicated King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson, Duchess of windsor
The brothers are believed to have inspired the fictional Rojo brothers, the wealthy sugar magnates in Carl Hiassen’s 1993 crime novel Strip Tease – which was later made into a 1996 film starring Demi Moore.
The family fled when Fidel Castro seized power and their property was confiscated.
But they managed to rebuild their empire in Florida by buying up 187,000 acres of farmland in Palm Beach County and importing thousands of mostly Jamaican laborers.
Their companies, which include Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals and ASR Group, now give the Fanjuls an estimated fortune of $8.2 billion, according to Bloomberg, and reportedly account for 40% of the state’s sugar industry.
While Pepe is a major Republican donor, Alphonso has donated to Democratic candidates over the years.
Bill Clinton was spotted with Fanjul – whose real name is Jose – and his brother Alphonso in September last year.
The former President was photographed disembarking from his yacht in the tony town of Sag Harbor, New York.
Both Clinton and the younger Fanjul appeared in Epstein’s black contact book.
And Pepe Fanjul was photographed in 2006 with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who was convicted of child trafficking and other offenses last year.
But by 2011 he had distanced himself from the disgraced financier. A spokesman for his Florida Crystals company told the Palm Beach Daily News that he and Epstein “apparently knew each other and had a history of contact.” But there are no ongoing business or social ties with Mr. Epstein.”
The brothers are believed to be worth more than $8 billion from their sugar businesses, which include Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals and ASR Group.
Although Alphonso has been known to donate money to Democratic causes, his brother was a wealthy supporter of Republicans including Trump and Senator Marco Rubio.
But his connection to the former president offers critics of Dr. Oz using the Clinton name to attack his rival, ammunition.
“David is trying to buy the Pennsylvania Senate seat with money from his best friends, Never Trumpers and Clinton-loving Democrats,” said Dr. Oz in a video posted to Twitter.
“Just follow the money.”
Brittany Yanick, Director of Communications at Dr. Oz, for the Senate, said there was nothing hypocritical about accepting money from Fanjul and dismissed the allegation about McCormick’s campaign.
“Pepe Fanjul is a major donor to President Trump and other America First Republicans,” she said.
“It’s quite a contrast to the Never Trumpers and Liberal Democrats who are funding Wall Street insider David McCormick’s campaign.”
supporters of dr. Oz back up their claims with publicly available details of donors to Honor Pennsylvania, a political action committee that supports McCormick.
They also “supported some of the most liberal Democrats in Congress and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign,” as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it.
“One of them worked in the Bill Clinton White House.”
They include Arjun Gupta, who describes himself as a “principal creditor” in TeleSoft Partners – the venture capital firm he founded – who donated $100,000. His other donations go almost exclusively to Democrats, including Ro Khanna, one of the most progressive members of the House of Representatives.
And $50,000 was donated by Joel Klein, Bill Clinton’s assistant White House counsel.
supporters of dr. Oz say McCormick (pictured at a campaign rally) is backed by Democratic donors who have backed Liberal politicians
Former President Donald Trump has yet to endorse a candidate after his preferred candidate Sean Parnell quit following a contentious divorce battle
But dr Oz has his own Clinton problem after years of praising her record. His opponents dismiss him as a “Hollywood liberal”.
In 2008, he described his support for her to Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary.
“She’s a very, very smart woman,” he told the National Review of Medicine.
“Your health insurance plan was probably the best. I am confident that Senator Obama would also make an excellent President.
“I suspect Senator Clinton would be more effective, not because she’s a better person, but because she has more experience.”
That same year, during a health event at New York University, he described her as “one of the smartest people” he’d ever met.
The two are the front runners in a crowded GOP primary competition. Republicans will decide who will go to the polls on May 17 to replace retired GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in a fight that could help decide who controls the Senate.
Republican insiders said the dispute between the two candidates reflected the way the Republican Party had changed. And that everyone recognized that they were vulnerable to accusations coming from outside the party base, from one elite or another.
Especially damaging if you were chasing the Trump endorsement.
dr Oz was spotted last week at Trump’s winter quarters in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
But McCormick has reportedly hired a number of Trump White House alumni, including Cliff Sims and Stephen Miller, while an allied super PAC works with Kellyanne Conway.
Mark Foley, a former US Representative based in Palm Beach, said both sides are careful to portray the other as having special interests.
“The Republican Party has changed so much,” he said. “Before it was bankers, lawyers, Wall Street guys; now it’s plumbers, plumbers, cops, firefighters, business owners,” he said, adding that cheap shots at the opposition are a regular feature of campaigns.
“They’re trying to identify someone and making the analogy that they’re somehow being bought or sold by some particular interest.”