RICHMOND, Va. — The internal fight between Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, his political action committee, and John Reid, the party's nominee for lieutenant governor in this year's election, has taken a legal turn.
In the latest development, lawyers for John Reid sent a cease and desist letter to Matt Moran, the executive director of the Spirit of Virginia, which is Gov. Youngkin's political action committee.
The letter says Moran continues to make "false and defamatory statements" about Reid and that he was the one who provided information that led Youngkin to call for Reid to end his campaign last week.
As first reported by The Richmonder, there was a Tumblr account that had sexually explicit photos of men on it and had the same username Reid uses on other social media platforms.
The letter says Reid had nothing to do with the account and that Moran has provided no proof.
In a video posted to X Sunday afternoon, Reid said he is being targeted for being openly gay.
"I'm not going to continue to answer a never ending parade of questions and false accusations from people who we now know are solely motivated to stage a coup against a gay man whom they didn't want to be their nominee but didn't have the guts to run against. It's unfair," Reid said.
The letter also claims Moran told Reid over the weekend, more personal attacks would come if Reid didn't drop out of the race.
It concludes by saying his accusation's rise to the level of defamation -- and demand Moran retract his statements and retain documents for potential legal action.
"The insiders in Virginia politics made a big miscalculation if they thought that I would bow down to anyone or run away scared," Reid said.
CBS 6 reached out to Moran for comment, but have not heard back.
Watching the ongoing infighting amongst his party, former two-term Republican lieutenant governor and now political science professor Bill Bolling calls it unprecedented and says many are waiting to see what more information comes to light, potentially including the rest of the Republican statewide ticket: Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who haven't commented publicly about this.
"I don't know if Ms. Sears and Attorney General Miyares have access to information that is not yet publicly available or if they're just waiting to see how this plays out."
Bolling said the onus for providing any additional information at this point is Youngkin and his PAC.
"If all there is what we have seen thus far, then it's possible that Governor Youngkin may have jumped the shark in this particular instance. If there is more than we have seen then, then perhaps his call for Mr. Reid to resign was appropriate," Bolling said.
Whatever the outcome, Bolling says it needs to be resolved quickly.
"The current state of the division that this has created within the Republican Party cannot continue. If it does, then Republicans will have no chance of winning statewide races in November," Bolling said.
Reid will hold a solo rally in Henrico Wednesday night at Atlas 42 in Henrico, the same spot and time where there was initially supposed to be a rally featuring the entire Republican statewide ticket and Gov. Youngkin.
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