Politics

Trey Gowdy Upset After Fake Facebook Page Claims He Switched Endorsement

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
Font Size:

South Carolina Rep. [crscore]Trey Gowdy[/crscore] is upset after a fake Facebook page surfaced falsely showing him switching his endorsement from [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] to [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] in the Republican race for president.

In a statement released by Rubio’s campaign, Gowdy — the chairman of the House Benghazi committee — said: “Its been reported that a fake Facebook page has been used to fool South Carolinians into thinking that I no longer support Marco Rubio and that I’m instead supporting Ted Cruz. Nothing could be further from the truth and I’m demanding that Senator Cruz and his campaign repudiate these dishonest and underhanded tactics.”

The Facebook page has a photo of Gowdy and is called “Trey Gowdy Prayers.” A post on Monday stated: “It is official, I have changed my mind. My previous endorsement of Marco Rubio was a grave mistake…To all my Christian and Conservative friends in South Carolina, I hereby formally endorse Ted Cruz for President of the United States.”

Though there’s no concrete evidence that Cruz’s campaign has anything to do with the Facebook page, Gowdy said: “Unfortunately it appears that the campaign of Senator Ted Cruz may not place the same value on waging a contest based on the truth and facts. In the last week, we have seen a systematic effort by Senator Cruz and his allies to spread false information and outright lies in the hopes of winning votes by appealing to our lowest common denominator.”

Cruz responded to this story on Facebook by denying having any role in the account. “Our campaign had absolutely nothing to do with this fraudulent Facebook post,” he wrote. “This kind of deception is deplorable and nothing like it would be tolerated by this campaign.”

South Carolina’s Republican primary is Saturday.

Follow Alex on Twitter