The host committee for an out-of-state fundraiser for the Morgan Ortagus for Congress campaign includes a former Trump administration State Department staffer who was fired for tweeting that President Trump was unfit for office, as well as several Never Trumpers.
Former Trump administration State Department spokesman and candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Morgan Ortagus will be in Washington, D.C., on Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022 to attend this fundraiser for her campaign.
Read the invitation to the event here:
Gabriel Noronha, a fired former State Department staffer who worked on Iran and member of the Ortagus’ fundraiser host committee, tweeted on January 6, 2021:
President Trump fomented an insurrectionist mob that attacked the Capitol today. He continues to take every opportunity to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. These actions threaten our democracy and our Republic. Trump is entirely unfit to remain in office, and needs to go.
On January 7, 2021, CNN reported that Noronha was “notified that he would be fired in a letter from the State Department liaison to the White House.”
Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Dan Crenshaw are among the headliners for the event and are also on the host committee.
Another member of the host committee is a Never Trumper, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts under then-Governor Mitt Romney, Kerry Healy. Healey is currently registered to vote as an Independent, didn’t vote for President Trump in 2016, and is pro-abortion.
The point of contact for the event, fundraiser Lisa Spies, a former staffer for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, has a history of badmouthing President Trump and was a Never Trumper in 2016.
The Dallas Morning News quoted Spies in 2016, where she said, “There are so many groups he’s alienated, but as far as women, it’s not just that he halted our progress, it’s that he reversed it.”
Spies also said, “Trump is not only going to lose the women’s vote, he’ll lose the Republican women vote.” President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The Tennessee Star previously reported that Ortagus herself had a history of bashing President Trump.
Morgan Ortagus once expressed on MSNBC that she was unsure if she would vote for him if he were to become the Republican nominee. She was working for a super PAC that supported Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign at the time.
During a January 2016 interview on Alan Colmes’ radio show, Ortagus lambasted the former president, saying, “You have somebody who makes fun of people with mental and physical disabilities. That’s disgusting; there’s no other way around it.”
She also said during the interview, “Quite frankly, I don’t want someone with the temperament of a middle school pubescent boy in the president’s office.”
In a March 2016 op-ed written for Fox Business, she wrote, “People know Trump isn’t serious.”
During an April 2016 appearance on Fox Business, Morgan Ortagus said of foreign policy approach, “I don’t see it that way. I think that America is the glue that holds the world together. … So there were points that I agreed [on] with him today, but overall, I fundamentally disagree with his isolationist approach to foreign policy.”
Ortagus’ previous comments about President Trump appear to be water under the bridge, given that he has given her his strong endorsement for TN-5.
Ortagus is a known commodity in Washington, D.C. having worked in the Trump administration State Department, among other positions she held. Ortagus worked and lived there for several years, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg even officiated at her wedding.
Other candidates that are publicly running in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Republican primary are music video director Robby Starbuck, businessman Baxter Lee, former Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead, and Natisha Brooks. Several others are collecting qualifying petitions.
Former Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell and Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles are also considering entry into the GOP field.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada.
[…] report additionally shows that the campaign accepted a $1,000 donation from Gabriel Noronha, a fired former State Department staffer that tweeted that “Trump is entirely unfit to remain […]
[…] report additionally shows that the campaign accepted a $1,000 donation from Gabriel Noronha, a fired former State Department staffer that tweeted that “Trump is entirely unfit to remain […]
[…] of those expected out-of-state donations will have come in connection with a fundraiser held on Ash Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The host committee for the event, as reported by The […]
[…] PLLC, a former Romney staffer who was on the host committee for the Ortagus campaign’s D.C. fundraiser that was highlighted by Never Trumpers and RINOs. Spies’ wife, Lisa, is a prominent Never Trumper […]
[…] week, at least two media outlets reported on the Ortagus campaign’s fundraiser and the inclusion of Noronha on its […]
[…] Star previously reported that the point of contact for the fundraising event is professional fundraiser Lisa Spies, a […]
she sucks
Wow she is a piece of work. When I saw PDT’s presumptive “endorsement” of her and had NEVER heard of her, esp in D5 (where we lived at the time), I started following her Twitter. She NEVER EVER Tweets about anything to do with D5 or TN–EVER. It is all this globalist crap and rinoesq takes on mostly world issues.
I had never seen her in regards to any meeting, etc for D5. Regardless of what you think about Robbie Starbuck, he has been all over the place speaking, meeting and listening to the people of D5 for over a year.
She is about to be in for a RUDE awakening because Tennesseans REALLY hate Carpetbaggers parachuting in to “rule” them. Her candidacy is dead, she is just using this for exposure, TV time and a gig after Nov-wait and see
As things go tho, D5 Conservatives better coalesque around one Candidate by June or the split will ensure another D take that seat in Nov
I hate to tell you folks that legitimate criticism of Trump does NOT equate someone to being a “Never Trumper”. I’m am all KINDS OF MAGA and voted for him every time, but let’s be honest, Trump made some serious bonehead decisions. Mostly because he listened to Jared and Ivanka. Ortegus goes to synagogue with Jared and Ivanka. The fact that she and Ivanka have become soul sisters doesn’t qualify her for crap. Look who is showing up at her fund raiser….NEVER TRUMPERS.
Don’t be a DimoCrat…look at the evidence and think for yourself. I give Trump the same scrutiny I give to ANYBODY running for office. He has a tendency to make knee jerk reactions before he speaks. Remember his one of many mouth fart statements like “Take the guns first, go through due process second”? If you’re honest, you know his mouth over runs his @## at times. Ortegus worked for him? Did she? That means nothing. He picked some serious bone heads. Some were rookie mistakes, others were made from the over reliance on the questionable judgement of his daughter Ivanka and her husband. His support of Ortegus shows his judgement is still clouded.
TROLL ALERT
Why ALL THE HYPE about a little old Congressional seat down in little old Tennessee? Hmmm? Is someone up in DC REALLY concerned about me and what I’m having to deal with in TN? Doubt it! So, let’s get down to it…
Will you please just stop parading these second and third tier DC slime-creatures past me! I don’t need no Botox-stuffed set of lips being put in front up of every 10 seconds carried by some “soft focus” over-made-up face. Something tells me that they accentuate the front of the train, so you can’t see what’s in between and the caboose! A big old nothing!
Imagine what this Morgan is going to need done when she’s put in half the number of miles that Marsha has ridden on this political turnip truck. Or maybe this Ms. Morgan has her sights set on being the next Nancy Pelosi? Either way, she ain’t for Tennessee!
All you need to know, look at the speakers at her “fundraiser”. RINO’s of the highest order.
Carol Swain, please run.
#Don’tvotethesebumsin!
Kudos! It broke my heart that Nashville didn’t elect her as Mayor. Hubby and I are native Nashvillians but fled to the Upper Cumberland 10 years ago after 30+ years of working in the cess pool. We supported Carol and hoped that at some point Davidson Co. might turn from it’s corrupt Dimocrap roots…but alas, we were disappointed.
Got to give the Never-Trumpers “E” for effort. The RINOS hate Trump because he represents all Americans and not the “elite.” Americans see through the charade of the uniparty.
All comments in this article seem to be from Never Trumpers and RINOS!
They may be a diversion. But, really be “whistling in the wind”!
Somebody needs to “inform” that girls that we’re not Democrats and so easily “Fooled”.
We vote for Breed/Born/Raised “Tennesseans”,
Not “Foreigners”.
Goodby.
If legislation doesn’t pass to stop this carpetbagger, or any of the others, I’ll vote Democrat just to get the much needed toilet flushing started.
THIS kind of nonsense makes my ‘blood boil’ when someone claims to be a Conservative/Republican. You are entitled to your opinion, but I don’t have to like it.
When someone says that he/she will vote Democrat for this, that or some other reason, WHAT I HEAR IS THAT REALLY, YOU ARE FOR THE DEMOCRAT! THAT is ALL that I need to know about YOU! So, I say, NO SALE and GOODBYE!
Voting for one of these left leaning, Trump hating carpetbaggers is as good as voting for a liberal. Once you figure out that your own people are selling you and your values down the river, you’ll realize that, in most cases, it doesn’t matter who you vote for anymore because they are all in bed together. Some of you are so staunch in your politics that you can’t see the light. And for some, it has cost them their life. Remember our dear friend Phil Valentine?
This gal is awful.
Maybe she can find another state to represent.
She doesn’t have a prayer in TN-5.
Nor does the Starbuck boy band fellow.