Some Republicans who have heard the recording right-wing activist Michael Sullivan made of his meeting with Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R) — where Bonnen allegedly discussed a hit list of his members for Sullivan’s PAC to target in the primaries — are vehemently against its public release.
“Any representative calling for this to be released in its unredacted, unedited form hasn’t heard it, because if you had heard it you wouldn’t want it to be released,” Texas Rep. Steve Toth (R) told the Dallas Morning News. He called Bonnen’s comments “damaging” and “embarrassing.”
Other members who have heard the recording say Bonnen bashed Republicans both on and off the alleged target list. Bonnen says that he never even discussed such a list and has called for the full recording to be released to the public.
Sullivan has cited the same rationale as Toth for withholding the audio, saying he doesn’t want to give Democrats ammunition for the upcoming elections. He has not let any Democrats or news outlets listen to the tape.
Read TPM’s deep dive on this messy situation here.
