Even liberal outlets like CNN appear to be struggling to accept some of the wild claims made by Governor Wes Moore (D-MD), widely considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender even as he has denied plans to run.
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt put Moore on the spot during a recent interview, citing a recent report from The Washington Free Beacon that questioned the veracity of some of his claims — in particular, his assertion that his great-grandfather had been “exiled” to Jamaica by the Ku Klux Klan.
WATCH:
CNN’s Kasie Hunt pressed Maryland Gov. Wes Moore yesterday on my @FreeBeacon reporting showing that his great-grandfather was not “exiled” to Jamaica by the Ku Klux Klan as he often claims.
Hunt asked Moore if the records I found are wrong.
Moore ignored the question. pic.twitter.com/1HNUQixpFY
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) February 19, 2026
“You say you are who you are,” Hunt began, adding, “The Free Beacon recently wrote about a story that you often tell about your great-grandfather and your family, and how and why they left the United States. They say that the story is — they report — they look at church records, they say the story is not true, that the Ku Klux Klan did not force your family to leave, your family left voluntarily.”
“Now, you of course have said — and your spokesperson said — ‘Anyone who wants to question whether terror and intimidation were pervasive in that era should open a history book. Reach out to the KKK and ask what they were up to in South Carolina in the 1920s,”” Hunt continued, repeating Moore’s vague statement on the matter. “Fair enough. I think my question to you is, is there any truth to what The Free Beacon has written here?”
Instead of addressing the point head-on, Moore chose to smear the outlet: “There is no truth to what a right-wing blog writes about me. No. There is not. Because I know my family’s history.”
Moore then doubled down on his claim, saying that his grandfather had only been a toddler when the family, living in South Carolina at the time, had been “run out by the Ku Klux Klan.”
Moore went on to speak about how his family had then returned to the United States years later — and once again suggested that anyone who questioned his version of events should ask the KKK for confirmation. But Hunt did not appear entirely convinced.
“And those church records that show that one of your family members left voluntarily to take over for someone who had passed away, those records are wrong?” she asked.
“They should really ask the Ku Klux Klan about what their activities were during the 1920s,” he said again.
The story Moore so often repeats is that his maternal great-grandfather, Rev. Josiah Johnson Thomas, had been preaching sermons against racism in their hometown of Pineville, South Carolina, and had thus angered the local KKK. In an effort to avoid a certain lynching, Thomas escaped with his family in secret to Jamaica. His young son, Moore’s maternal grandfather, vowed the family would return one day — and they did.
But the records cited by reporter Andrew Kerr at The Free Beacon showed that Thomas had publicly accepted a transfer to a church in Jamaica — where he himself hailed from — when the pastor there had passed away unexpectedly.
In addition, neither church records nor local reporting at the time mentions any conflicts between Thomas and members of the KKK, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s map showing the reach of the Ku Klux Klan at that time does not indicate there was ever a chapter operating in Pineville.
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