Continuing his half-baked quest to present himself to Pennsylvania voters as a crudité-buying, grocery-store frequenting everyman, GOP senate candidate and noted Trump sycophant Dr. Mehmet Oz noted during a recent campaign stop that he owns just two properties. To quote another mainstay of daytime trash TV: Turns out, that was a lie.
Video footage of Oz’s campaign stop last weekend at the Carbon County Fair in Palmerton, Pennsylvania obtained by The Daily Beast shows the reality TV show charlatan being approached by an individual identified as “a Democratic campaign operative” and asked, “How many houses do you own?”
“Well I — legitimately, I own two houses,” Oz says. “But, one of them I’m building on. The other one I rent.”
Yet, as the Daily Beast reports, public records show Oz owns a total of 10 properties in both the United States and Turkey, including: a 9,000-square-foot mansion and a condo in New Jersey; a 7,000-square-foot house in Pennsylvania; two condos in Manhattan; a beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida; a farm in Okeechobee, Florida; two residential properties in Sariyer, Turkey; and an apparent student dorm in Konya, Turkey. (The publication also notes that Oz’s wife has two properties of her own, located in Maine and New Jersey.) While Oz obviously doesn’t make personal use of his many properties from a residential standpoint, he is still their legal owner — and, thus, earns a nice chunk of change from rental income.
The revelation comes as new GOP polling data finds Oz tanking in the polls ahead of November’s senate race in Pennsylvania, trailing his Democratic opponent Lt. Gov. John Fetterman by 18 points. It also follows news that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has pulled $5 million in advertising funds previously allotted to the Pennsylvania market.
Oz’s inability to remember how many properties he actually owns is unsurprising, considering the aspiring senator went viral Monday when an April 2022 Twitter video resurfaced online, showing Oz prowling through the produce section of a supermarket he mistakenly identifies as “Wegner’s” shopping for ingredients to make crudités to make a point about inflation. Social media users were quick to roast Oz for the video’s many gaffes — his bizarre portmanteau of the Wegman’s and Redner’s grocery store chains, stating broccoli is $2 rather than $2 per pound, choosing the world’s largest bag of carrots, and complaining he won’t have enough money left for tequila. The biggest blow, however, came from Oz’s own opponent. “In PA we call this a… veggie tray,” Fetterman tweeted in response. The Democrat’s campaign seized upon the gaffe, offering donors a “Wegner’s” sticker in exchange for donations. Fetterman ultimately raised over $500,000 for the well-timed stunt.
Inflation is hurting American families. Under Joe Biden, gas prices are skyrocketing and food prices are rising. We must stop the reckless spending. This is outrageous! Thanks a lot, Joe. pic.twitter.com/8kNil6upn8
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) April 6, 2022