Secret McConnell campaign recording was allegedly made by co-founders of a liberal advocacy group, including a Democratic National Convention delegate
The activists who allegedly recorded a
private conversation among members of Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell's re-election team are tied to a liberal political action committee whose co-founder was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Jacob Conway, an executive committee member of the Jefferson County, Kentucky Democratic Party, told WFPL radio in Louisville that Progress Kentucky co-founders Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison bragged to him about how they recorded a February meeting of McConnell campaign staffers.
That conversation featured a discussion of how actress Ashley Judd, then a potential challenger for McConnell's Senate seat, could be targeted for her past battles with mental illness that left her 'emotionally unbalanced' and stricken with 'suicidal tendencies.'
Judd announced on March 27 that she would not run.
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On the tape, which swiftly made
the rounds April 9, McConnell is heard suggesting a 'Whac-a-Mole'
strategy against Judd. 'When anybody sticks their head up,' he said, 'do
them out.'
Reilly and Morrison were reportedly at McConnell's Kentucky campaign headquarters for its Feb. 2 grand opening, and remained in the building long enough to overhear the campaign team's strategy session from outside a closed door, and to decide to record it.
The Daily Caller reported that Reilly was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. It cited a Huffington Post story which noted that before he co-founded Progress Kentucky, Reilly 'was a member of the executive committee of the state Democratic Party.'
'Although
Reilly appears to be a member of the Democratic Party establishment,'
the Caller reported, 'media outlets are now propagating a version of the
illegal bugging story in which Democratic officials claim to have been
blindsided by a scandal foisted on them by an unaccountable outside
group.'
Conway, the county-level Democratic
Party executive who blew the whistle on Progress Kentucky's recording
exploit, told the Fox News Channel that Reilly and Morrison bragged to
him about what they had done.
'They mentioned that they were there. ... I don't know why they were at the grand opening of his campaign office, but they were there after the event had ended, and were in the hallway. And they overheard the conversation going on,' Conway told anchor Megyn Kelly.
'It was a very tasteless thing that the McConnell campaign did,' he added, 'but it was a private conversation nonetheless.'
'They decided tO record it,' he added, and they told me about this.'
Progress Kentucky's main purpose seems to be to oust McConnell from his perch at the top of the Senate's Republican pecking order.
Politico reported in January that the group was approaching tea party-affiliated Republicans in an effort to persuade someone to challenge the five-term 71-year-old politician.
A YouTube video published in December shows the group organizing a 'fiscal cliff caroling' event on the sidewalk in front of McConnell's home.
The group describes itself as 'a different kind of Super PAC: a grassroots movement that will use traditional media, new media, and direct action to hold Senator Mitch McConnell accountable for his failed record.'
Reilly has taken the position that he was an innocent bystander, placing the blame squarely on Morrison.
'Shawn is completely innocent of any criminal wrongdoing,' Reilly attorney Annie O'Connell told Buzzfeed.
'He is a witness, not a suspect. He has fully cooperated with the United States Attorney's office for the Western district of Kentucky since the recording became public,' and has provided 'material assistance to the investigators.'
That appears consistent with what Conway told WFPL he learned from the men he says made the tape.
'One of them held the elevator, the other one did the recording and they left,' Conway said.
McConnell campaign manager
Jesse Benton said in a statement that 'WFPL’s reports that left-wing
activists illegally recorded a private meeting inside our campaign
headquarters are very disturbing.'
Sen. McConnell himself called the apparent wiretapping incident 'Nixonian' in a successful rapid-response fundraising campaign, is 'very disturbing.'
'At this point, we understand that the FBI is immersed in an intensive criminal investigation,' he said.
The FBI's Louisville office declined to make a comment.
Mother Jones magazine, the non-profit liberal magazine that published the recording, may be in legal jeopardy - or in danger of losing its tax-exempt status - if it's determined that the tape was made illegally. It's a crime in Kentucky to record or publish the contents of a private conversation unless all its participants consent.
And crossing state lines with such a recording, an FBI source told MailOnline on condition of anonymity, is a 'slam-dunk federal case.'
Mother Jones is headquartered in California. David Corn, the reporter who broke the story, is based in Washington, D.C.
On Thursday, Progress Kentucky Treasurer Douglas David confirmed to NBC News that he resigned from the group after the audio recording was made, but before his organization was named publicly in connection with it.
'I have resigned my position as treasurer and did not and do not condone any allegations of illegal activity that might have taken place,' he said.
Jacob Conway, an executive committee member of the Jefferson County, Kentucky Democratic Party, told WFPL radio in Louisville that Progress Kentucky co-founders Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison bragged to him about how they recorded a February meeting of McConnell campaign staffers.
That conversation featured a discussion of how actress Ashley Judd, then a potential challenger for McConnell's Senate seat, could be targeted for her past battles with mental illness that left her 'emotionally unbalanced' and stricken with 'suicidal tendencies.'
Judd announced on March 27 that she would not run.
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Actress Ashley Judd, shown here in the 1999 film
Double Jeopardy, considered running for a US Senate seat in Kentucky,
but was dogged by carpetbagger accusations since she lives in Tennessee
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is
preparing for his sixth Senate election in 2014. He and a small group of
his campaign staffers were secretly recorded during a Feb. 4 strategy
session in their Kentucky campaign headquarters
Reilly and Morrison were reportedly at McConnell's Kentucky campaign headquarters for its Feb. 2 grand opening, and remained in the building long enough to overhear the campaign team's strategy session from outside a closed door, and to decide to record it.
The Daily Caller reported that Reilly was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. It cited a Huffington Post story which noted that before he co-founded Progress Kentucky, Reilly 'was a member of the executive committee of the state Democratic Party.'
Curtis Morrison (R) is one of two Progress
Kentucky co-founders accused of making the unauthorized recording and
giving it to Mother Jones reporter David Corn. The other man, Shawn
Reilly, claims he was a 'witness.' his lawyer blames Morrison for any
alleged illegal activity
'They mentioned that they were there. ... I don't know why they were at the grand opening of his campaign office, but they were there after the event had ended, and were in the hallway. And they overheard the conversation going on,' Conway told anchor Megyn Kelly.
'It was a very tasteless thing that the McConnell campaign did,' he added, 'but it was a private conversation nonetheless.'
'They decided tO record it,' he added, and they told me about this.'
Progress Kentucky's main purpose seems to be to oust McConnell from his perch at the top of the Senate's Republican pecking order.
Politico reported in January that the group was approaching tea party-affiliated Republicans in an effort to persuade someone to challenge the five-term 71-year-old politician.
A YouTube video published in December shows the group organizing a 'fiscal cliff caroling' event on the sidewalk in front of McConnell's home.
Jacob Conway, a committee member of the
Jefferson County, Kentucky Democratic Party, said during a radio
interview that Reilly and Morrison bragged about making the tape
The group describes itself as 'a different kind of Super PAC: a grassroots movement that will use traditional media, new media, and direct action to hold Senator Mitch McConnell accountable for his failed record.'
Reilly has taken the position that he was an innocent bystander, placing the blame squarely on Morrison.
'Shawn is completely innocent of any criminal wrongdoing,' Reilly attorney Annie O'Connell told Buzzfeed.
'He is a witness, not a suspect. He has fully cooperated with the United States Attorney's office for the Western district of Kentucky since the recording became public,' and has provided 'material assistance to the investigators.'
That appears consistent with what Conway told WFPL he learned from the men he says made the tape.
'One of them held the elevator, the other one did the recording and they left,' Conway said.
McConnell played jiu-jitsu with his liberal
antagonists, turning negative publicity from the damaging recording into
a positive fundraising windfall for his campaign
Sen. McConnell himself called the apparent wiretapping incident 'Nixonian' in a successful rapid-response fundraising campaign, is 'very disturbing.'
'At this point, we understand that the FBI is immersed in an intensive criminal investigation,' he said.
The FBI's Louisville office declined to make a comment.
Mother Jones magazine, the non-profit liberal magazine that published the recording, may be in legal jeopardy - or in danger of losing its tax-exempt status - if it's determined that the tape was made illegally. It's a crime in Kentucky to record or publish the contents of a private conversation unless all its participants consent.
And crossing state lines with such a recording, an FBI source told MailOnline on condition of anonymity, is a 'slam-dunk federal case.'
Judd read the vote totals for Tennessee - not
Kentucky - during the presidential nomination roll call vote for the
Democratic presidential nomination in 2012
On Thursday, Progress Kentucky Treasurer Douglas David confirmed to NBC News that he resigned from the group after the audio recording was made, but before his organization was named publicly in connection with it.
'I have resigned my position as treasurer and did not and do not condone any allegations of illegal activity that might have taken place,' he said.