Trump endorses Blake Masters in Arizona GOP Senate primary

(CNN)Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Arizona Senate hopeful Blake Masters in a move that aides believe will give the Republican significant momentum ahead of the state’s August primary.

Calling Masters “a great modern-day thinker,” Trump praised the tech entrepreneur Thursday in a statement that underscored the candidate’s commitment to the former President’s top priorities — from immigration and gun rights to relitigating 2020 election.

“Blake knows that the “Crime of the Century” took place, he will expose it and also, never let it happen again,” Trump said in a statement, referring to false claims of electoral fraud in 2020.

Masters, who is also backed by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel, is running in a crowded field of GOP candidates seeking to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in November.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

CNN’s Terence Burlij contributed to this report.