Moreno accuses Brown of engaging in Biden ‘cover-up’

Republican Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno showed up at Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) office in Washington on Thursday to accuse the incumbent senator of being complicit “in the greatest cover-up in American history” because he did not earlier sound the alarm about President Biden’s fitness for office.

“Admit to your complicity in the greatest cover-up in American history. This is Watergate on steroids. They knew all along — especially Sherrod Brown, is friends with Joe Biden for decades. So it’s not like they have a casual acquaintance,” Moreno said after holding a press conference outside Brown’s office in the Hart Senate Office Building.

Moreno said Brown should have declared Biden unfit for office months ago and had been ignoring what Republicans and even some Democratic critics say is evidence that Biden’s cognitive abilities have eroded in the last few years.   

“This is somebody who’s known [Biden] intimately for decades,” Moreno said.

“You knew he was in mental decline, you covered up, and you did it for political reason,” he continued.

Moreno also criticized Brown for not speaking at greater length with the media about how he perceives Biden’s fitness to serve another four years in office, as Democrats continue to grapple with the fallout from the president’s debate performance last month.

A spokesperson for Brown’s campaign accused the GOP candidate of playing “political games.”

“While Sherrod is working for the people of Ohio, Bernie Moreno was once again playing political games that expose how he’s only out for himself,” said Eliza Green, Brown’s spokesperson.

Democrats also pointed out that Moreno reaffirmed his stance on abortion has not changed.

Moreno told reporters that his stance on abortion is “crystal, crystal clear” and “has not changed” when asked about whether his recent statement expressing support for some exceptions to an abortion ban conflicts with the party’s platform.

Moreno in a 2022 radio interview said he was “absolute pro-life” with “no exceptions.”

Brown told reporters Wednesday that he’s hearing “concerns” about Biden from Ohio voters.

“I hear legitimate concerns from people in Ohio about the president. I listen to those, but my job is to continue to work for my state to fight on prescription drug prices and jobs,” he said.

Brown was one of three Senate Democrats who warned colleagues at a private lunch Tuesday that they think Biden will lose to Trump in November.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Wednesday evening became the first Senate Democrat to call on Biden to drop his reelection bid.

“I, like folks across the country, am worried about November’s election. The stakes could not be higher. We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” Welch wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

Updated: 12:29 p.m.