Matt Moran, executive director of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s political action committee, broke his silence Wednesday in the escalating feud with Republican lieutenant governor nominee John Reid — accusing Reid’s campaign of knowing about a controversial Tumblr account before the governor called for him to step aside.
Moran’s response — delivered in part through an attorney and in part in a sworn affidavit — outlines a detailed timeline that he says shows Reid was given a chance to review the material but skipped the meeting. Moran also claims Reid’s campaign manager, Noah Jennings, acknowledged knowing of the account’s existence and asked for help finding clients this summer.
The response from Moran — delivered partly through an attorney and partly in an affidavit from Moran — outlines the timeline of events involving Reid from the outset.
The controversy began Friday, when Youngkin privately urged Reid to exit the contest after the discovery of a Tumblr account featuring reblogged images of nude men. The account shared a username with Reid’s personal Instagram. Reid denies that the Tumblr account belongs to him.
The Tumblr account was discovered through a vulnerability study — a common campaign practice used to identify a candidate’s potential weaknesses.
Moran says in his affidavit that Reid’s campaign was aware of the study taking place.
“On Tuesday morning, April 22, 2025, I talked to his campaign manager again and connected him to the consultants and staff of other statewide campaigns,” Moran said. “I connected him with an outside group to discuss basic things campaigns do, including that a vulnerability report — of which his campaign had full knowledge — was being started by the outside group, solely based on the fact John was a radio host with an extensive history of public comments.”
On Sunday, Reid’s campaign sent Moran a cease-and-desist letter and, in a social media video, accused him of attempted extortion.
“These guys are openly trying to extort me to make me quit,” Reid said in the caption for the video. “I won’t stand for it.”
In the video, Reid said Youngkin’s political team told his staff in a meeting that attacks would continue until he drops out of the race.
Moran says in his affidavit that Reid’s accusation is false.
“Over the weekend of April 26–27 a friend of John’s and professional colleague of mine told me that John again wanted to meet personally,” Moran wrote. “John did not show up for the Sunday meeting. Instead, John’s long-time partner, Alonzo, and his campaign manager met with me along with John’s friend who had coordinated the meeting; The account of this meeting in the legal letter is false. The person who arranged the meeting was present for the meeting. I was clear in the meeting that I had acted on the information as a friend to and colleague of John Reid, and adamantly deny the characterization of the meeting.”
“I am confident that John’s friend who arranged this meeting will corroborate my statements about this meeting and will confirm that at no time did I act inappropriately towards John or his campaign,” Moran continued.
Reid also claimed that the governor did not provide him the opportunity to view the evidence against him.
“What I didn’t expect was the governor I have always supported to call and demand my resignation without even showing me the supposed evidence or offering me a chance to respond,” Reid said Friday.
Moran’s statement contradicts that claim.
“On Friday morning, April 25, 2025, I received a written summary of the study findings, containing information from a Tumblr account, which would put John in a negative light and impact the viability of his candidacy regardless of its veracity,” Moran wrote. “I spoke to John on the phone with others present and summarized the information, only after expressing my personal concern for him. John was supposedly 10 minutes away from my office and on his way to meet with me. He never showed up.”
The documents released by Moran indicate that Jennings, the campaign manager for Reid, acknowledged knowing about the Tumblr account before the governor’s team contacted Reid.
According to the affidavit, Jennings implied to Moran during a meeting that he was uncertain about his summer work prospects and might need help lining up clients.
“Before any published news reports had the information, I showed his campaign manager in person the written summary I received and material that was live and available online,” Moran said. “The campaign manager acknowledged he knew about the Tumblr account; he commented that he might need help finding new clients.”
Jennings told Virginia Scope on Wednesday that he would need more time to respond when asked to confirm Moran’s statement.
Moran has retained George Terwilliger, a former U.S. deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and a recent partner at McGuireWoods. His son, Zachary Terwilliger, served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2018 to 2021, appointed by President Donald Trump.
View the full affidavit and statement from Moran’s attorney below:
