An elite club of Hollywood Republicans that disbanded last year, partly because of arguments over President Donald Trump, has come back to life as two rival groups, The Guardian reports.
Jeremy Boreing, executive director of the original Friends of Abe which included Clint Eastwood, Pat Boone and Jon Voight, told the newspaper a disgruntled former member has tricked other members by hijacking its name and copying its events.
"It's just a way of trying to break something because you can't have it — impersonating something so you can lay claim to whatever affinity people had for it. He's pretending to be something he's not. The shame of it is that people who attend these events think they're at an FoA event," he said.
But David Cole told the Guardian his retooled version righted the problems of the old one.
"I'm being very careful with how I present the new group. We are not 'the' FOA. We are a new iteration composed of new and former members. We are a spinoff, born from necessity. If Boreing hadn't dropped the ball, this wouldn't be an issue," Cole said.
Movie star Gary Sinise launched the original Friends of Abe — named after President Abraham Lincoln — about 13 years ago as a fellowship for Hollywood industry conservatives.
The Guardian said the group's eventual implosion was "linked in part to internal conservative divisions over Trump."
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