Calling it “Watergate-style bugging,” the re-election campaign of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is now working with the FBI to find out how a recording of private political “war room” conversations was leaked to the liberal magazine Mother Jones.
The Kentucky Republican’s campaign manager, Jesse Benton, told Kentucky radio station WFPL that some type of recording device was planted in Mr. McConnell’s office. It was apparently put there, the campaign says, to record conversations about the strategy to defeat actress Ashley Judd, who was considering a run against the minority leader but decided against it.
“Senator McConnell’s campaign is working with the FBI and has notified the local U.S. Attorney in Louisville, per FBI request, about these recordings,” Mr. Benton told WFPL, according to the station’s website. “Obviously a recording device of some kind was placed in Senator McConnell’s campaign office without consent. By whom and how that was accomplished presumably will be the subject of a criminal investigation.”
Mr. Benton also called the tactics “Nixonian” and said that it’s apparent “the far left would stop at nothing to attack Mr. McConnell,” WFPL reported.
The leaked recording, posted by Mother Jones along with a print article, includes an unknown McConnell aide discussing how the campaign could use Ms. Judd’s history of depression against here, as well as the fact that she admits she considered suicide as a child.
“This sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced,” the aide said.
The recording, along with the campaign’s statements, can be found here: http://wfpl.org/post/mother-jones-obtains-secret-tape-mcconnell-campaign-strategy-session
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/9/mcconnell-camp-our-offices-were-bugged/#ixzz2PzQDienr
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