Ex-coal CEO and failed Senate candidate Don Blankenship took a parting shot at President Trump on Wednesday, accusing him of “spreading fake news” against him.
“You, yourself, also spread fake news against me. Your interference in the West Virginia election displayed a lack of understanding of the likely outcome of the upcoming general election,” Blankenship wrote in an open letter to Trump.
Blankenship added that while he shares many of Trump’s views, “I refrain from taking positions based on fake news and swampers’ rhetoric. You, of all people, should also refrain from doing so.”
{mosads}Blankenship’s letter comes a day after he failed to win the GOP Senate nomination in West Virginia. Despite panic about last-minute momentum from the former convict, he came in third behind Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.).
Blankenship added in his letter that “Morrisey will likely lose the general election. It’s too late to change that, but it’s not helpful to do to me what others are doing to you.”
Trump made an 11th-hour appeal to West Virginia voters to block Blankenship from winning the party’s nomination.
“To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State…No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!” he said in a tweet on Monday.
Blankenship closes the letter noting that he looks forward to meeting Trump “in the near future.”
An adviser to Blankenship didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about if the two had a meeting planned.