Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Wednesday to discuss who orchestrated the message Jeff DeWit, the now-former chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), delivered to Kari Lake, which included offering her money and a job if she stayed out of politics for two years.
The audio recording of DeWit allegedly trying to convince Lake to stay out of politics for two years by suggesting he could find her a well-paying nonpolitical job in the private sector was released on Tuesday.
DeWit announced his resignation from the AZGOP on Wednesday.
During the call to Lake, DeWit said “very powerful people” “Back East” were behind the offer to Lake.
Since then, a source knowledgeable of the situation told The Arizona Sun Times that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was behind the message, naming Political Director Tim Edson. However, when The Sun Times reached out for a confirmation or denial of the report, the organization did not respond.
On Wednesday’s edition of War Room, Leahy slammed NRSC Chairman and U.S. Senator Steve Daines’ (R-MT) comment to NBC News claiming no knowledge of the leaked audio, which Leahy called a “non-denial denial.”
“[Daines] didn’t address the issue of whether they originated the message…And he’s not responded to us. Steve, you and I have been doing this long enough to know that if there’s a major figure that you ask a question and they don’t respond to you in 24 hours, there’s a reason. And my suspicion is that our source is probably correct,” Leahy said.
Bannon said Leahy “dropped a bomb,” noting that if the NRSC was in fact behind the message, it would make “perfect sense.”
“What Daines put out is a non-denial denial. A classic. And he went to NBC – he didn’t go to Gateway Pundit, he didn’t go to The Tennessee Star, didn’t go to The Star News Network, or any of the conservative sites. He didn’t go to Revolver or Breitbart. He went to NBC – somebody that would treat him gently given this information,” Bannon said.
Leahy continued by questioning Daines’ decision to comment on the matter to NBC and not respond to inquiries from The Star News Network.
“Steve Daines and all of his staff… have not responded to us. Now think about that – we are a legitimate, respected conservative media outlet and they chose to talk to an NBC reporter who actually framed the story to take the non-denial denial and frame it as a denial, which it is not,” Leahy added. “So we’re going to keep asking Steve Daines to comment and the staff at the NRSC, but my money would be on the NRSC as the folks back East that asked Jeff DeWit to deliver that message to Kari.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
