Ohio Republican fires press secretary over old tweets that mocked Trump's weight: report

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who earlier this month suffered a brutal political setback when his effort to raise the threshold for ballot initiatives in his state crashed and burned, has reportedly fired his press secretary over old tweets that were critical of former President Donald Trump.

Three sources tell NBC News that LaRose decided to give former spokesman Rob Nichols the boot after Trump supporters began publicizing his old tweets about the former president.

According to NBC News, Nichols' tweets included "some that commented on [Trump's] weight and others on his legal troubles," and the entire controversy came to a head when right-wing Breitbart News wrote a story about them.

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LaRose, who is running for the Republican Party's United States Senate nomination, has been desperate to secure Trump's endorsement, although figures within Trump's orbit have reportedly been skeptical of LaRose after he bashed the former president's false claims about the 2020 election being "stolen" from him.

What's more, writes NBC News, LaRose reportedly drew Trump's ire when he recently refused to outright condemn former Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to unilaterally throw out certified election results, saying only that Pence "made the best decision he could with the information in front of him."

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