2 candidates for Senate flaunt Trump’s endorsement on Twitter after the former president endorses ‘ERIC’ in Missouri primary election

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Two Missouri candidates for Senate — Attorney General Eric Schmitt and former Gov. Eric Greitens — are claiming credit for Donald Trump’s endorsement in tomorrow’s primary election after the former president released an unclear statement backing an unspecified “Eric” in the race. 

“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds, much as they did when they gave me landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 Elections, and I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump said in the statement.

Eric Greitens, who resigned from the Missouri governorship in 2018 after facing felony charges for threatening to release nude photos he took of his mistress if she revealed their relationship, promptly took credit for the endorsement. The former president has previously called Greitens “smart” and “tough,” and the candidate employs Trump’s future daughter-in-law, Kimberly Guilfoyle, as the national co-chair of his campaign.

“I’m honored to receive President Trump’s endorsement,” Greitens posted on Twitter shortly after Trump’s announcement. “From the beginning, I’ve been the true MAGA Champion fighting against the RINO establishment backing Schmitt. President Trump said it best when he characterized Schmitt’s campaign as ‘great dishonesty in politics.'”

Greitens’ challenger, Eric Schmitt, likewise thanked the former president for his endorsement, though Trump had previously criticized polls released by strategists associated with his campaign. 

“I’m grateful for President Trump’s endorsement,” Eric Schmitt said in a statement on Twitter, roughly 11 minutes after Greitens announced he’d accepted the same endorsement. “As the only America First candidate who has actually fought for election integrity, border security & against the Left’s indoctrination of our kids—I’ll take that fight to the Senate to SAVE AMERICA!”

Polls show Greitens lagging behind the Attorney General by 17 points as of this week, following a series of negative ads that focused his on his history of domestic violence allegations and the criminal charges related to blackmailing his mistress.