The Associated Press published a tawdry smear article Thursday, attacking Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno despite denying the allegations in its own story. It also withheld critical evidence that further undermined the tale’s credibility.

The article is about a profile from 2008 on a website for casual sexual encounters called Adult Friend Finder. The profile was made public by a data breach on the website. It was created with an email address used for a Moreno owned company’s literature and website. According to the AP, a caption was written on a photoless profile that was last accessed six hours after its creation. It said, “Looking for younger guys to have some fun with when traveling.”

The AP published the article questioning Moreno’s involvement despite a sworn declaration from a former employee of Moreno’s company that an intern created the account as a “juvenile prank” using an email managed by employees, including interns. The AP, according to its own admissions, lacked any evidence that linked Moreno with the account.

The AP also only published one sentence of the statement Moreno’s lawyer provided to them, excluding critical evidence. Charles Harder’s statement, Moreno’s legal counsel, is as follows:

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A 16-year-old intern from Moreno Auto made an AFF account as a joke. He quickly deleted it the same day. We provided AP with a copy signed by the intern admitting this. Also, we sent a letter signed by a former VP from Mr. Moreno’s company confirming the intern’s employment when the account was created. This email address was not Bernie’s, but an address that was used on company literature and websites. It was also managed by employees. This intern was one of many people who had access to the account. Bernie Moreno was not involved with the AFF Account. The metadata shows that the AFF account has never been used. No communications or contacts were sent or received from other AFF accounts and no photos or contents were uploaded. AFF existed 16 years ago for less than half a day.

Breitbart News has obtained a signed letter by Helder Rosa (former vice president of Bernie Moreno Companies), confirming Ricci’s internship on the date in question. The letter states that interns are expected to check emails and respond to senior management inquiries.

Rosa’s entire quote was not included by the AP, which omitted important information. The AP failed to acknowledge the fact that staff managed the email account and that many employees, including interns in the company, had access the email address that was used to create the AFF Profile. The article also failed to acknowledge that the AFF profile was never used.

The signed statement of Ricci, former intern, is as follows:

I’m embarrassed by a prank that I tried to play on Bernie Moreno, my former boss and friend, almost 20 years ago. I was one of the many people at the company with access to his public facing email account – bernie@clevelandporsche.com – and created the adult friend finder account in question. The prank was part of an innocent joke that I never carried out and was clearly not malicious. Bernie and I are good friends and have been for over 15 years. I never imagined that this juvenile prank could be used against my friend many years later. I am proud to have known Bernie for so many years, and apologize to his family and myself for the harm that this stupid prank has caused.

Donald Trump has endorsed Moreno for the Senate race. He will be the keynote speaker at a rally to support his campaign on Saturday in Ohio. The winner of Tuesday’s primary, March 19, will face Senator Sherrod Brown in November.

Trump has not been deterred and continues to support his candidate despite the attack on Moreno. Steven Cheung, his campaign spokesperson, stated in a press release that the leftwing media was obsessed with destroying anyone supporting the America First Movement and this ridiculous slimejob is just more proof that Bernie Moreno poses a threat to all of the swamp. The AP’s publication of this story is shameful and embarrasing, especially since they were forced to admit that there was no proof that Bernie Moreno had any involvement in the account. Instead, it had been made by a former internship. Fake news is the enemy of people.”