Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and CIA director, raised concerns about Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz’s ties with the Turkish government in a press briefing on Friday.
Although Oz has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, the celebrity doctor is facing questions over his ties to Turkey, where he is a citizen, in addition to being an American citizen.
Pompeo said Oz’s campaign owes the people of Pennsylvania answers.
“When we see reports that he chose to vote in a Turkish presidential election but not in an American election…not only did he not engage in the American political process, but he engaged in the Turkish political process. That raises in my mind lots of judgments about his priorities,” Pompeo said.
“You stack that up with some of the work that he has done, some of the political involvement he’s had with Turkey, and I think that the [Mehmet Oz] campaign owes the people of Pennsylvania an explanation for this,” he added.
Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks onstage at the Good Health is Good Business panel at The Town Hall during 2016 Advertising Week New York on September 29, 2016, in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Advertising Week New York)
“Maybe it’s all innocent, maybe it’s all straight up, but we and the people of Pennsylvania and [all] Americans … need to understand the scope and depth of his relationship with the Turkish government,” he said.
Pompeo referenced reports of Oz’s reported work at a Chinese military hospital and for Turkish Airlines, which is reportedly 49.12 percent owned by the Turkish government.
Pompeo, as someone who was involved with the clearance process for sensitive national security information, said that the types of situations being reported about Oz would raise concerns as to whether he should be privy to that information. He said that as a member of the Senate, Oz would get that information anyway.
“I don’t view this as political. This is separate and apart from politics. This is about making sure that the voters have the opportunity to know all of the things — the good characteristics and the shortcomings of candidates that are running — and the questions in my judgment have not been answered satisfactorily,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo is supporting Oz’s primary election opponent, Republican Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund manager whom the former secretary of state has known since they were cadets at West Point. He called McCormick a “strong conservative.”
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