A Newly surface recording Of a conversation of April 27 between Matt Moran, the best political strategist for the governor of Virginie Glenn Youngkin, and members of the Republican campaign of John Reid seems to contradict the juror of Moran – directly difficult His pretension that he never put pressure on the Reid team to leave the race of Lieutenant-Governor.
Top Youngkin’s strategist breaks the silence, denies the extortion claims of Reid while Gop Feud continues
Audio, obtained and examined by Mercury on Thursday, capture Moran and lawyer Tim Anderson, a former state delegate, during the meeting at Link Public Affairs offices in Richmond, in a conversation with the campaign director of Reid, Noah Jennings, and the longtime partner of Reid, Alonzo Mable.
Jennings confirmed in a text message that he was present during the conversation and that the registration was correct. In response to a request for comments on the registration, Moran’s lawyer George Terwilliger, sent the following declaration:
“For a complete understanding of the meeting, you must have complete recording. But even the selective couple of minutes is entirely consistent with the Declaration of Matt in his affidavit that he gave good political advice to a candidate as for what was in his best interest and that of his party.”
The conversation came to the top of a Growing crisis Inside the Virginie GOP, while party leaders fought with the way of managing the harmful equipment linked to Reid, a conservative radio host and the first openly gay candidate on a state -of -scale post in the history of Virginia.
In the affidavit Moran released on Wednesday, he categorically denied the reprehensible acts, saying: “I never attacked John and I did not threaten him or did not constitute him. I communicated what I really believed in his best interest.”
In recording, Moran, head of the political organization of Youngkin Spirginia Pac, can be heard explicitly framing the release of Reid as the only way to stop the release of the search for prejudicial opposition.
“If he stays in the race, it will continue,” said Moran in the recording. “It hurts our candidates from top to bottom. He gets out of the race is the only way to stop, and then, yes, that should absolutely stop. Forever after that.”
In A video published on X After the meeting on Sunday afternoon, Reid allegedly alleged that the Youngkin’s political team told his campaign that the attacks would only stop if he withdrew – supervising the offer as the type of pressure that borders extortion.
Youngkin’s political advisor under fire as a allegations of rock extortion Virginia Gop
Reid’s campaign followed on Monday with a letter of cease-disaster accusing Moran of defamation, saying that the political consultant had falsely linked to the explicit story of Tumblr-that Reid said that he had nothing to do.
“Although this account shares a common username with our client Instagram, it is not and has never been associated with the account,” said the letter from Reid’s lawyer Charles Spies.
The Affidavit of Moran depicts the vulnerability report at the center of the dispute as standard campaign work, saying that the Reid team was fully informed. But the audio reveals that Moran and Anderson discuss the need for official legal actions to lock the harmful equipment.
“So, the worst thing for John is that he resigns and he is always F *** Ed”, says Anderson in registration, adding that any agreement should “make him close” with assurance of the governor. Moran agrees, the appellant “a reasonable request”, and speculates that Youngkin will undertake to guarantee that the material was never surface.
Jennings and Mable, on the other hand, asked Moran on Moran several times, with Moran offering to send a four -page summary and a 16 -page report. Moran had previously said that Reid’s campaign knew these details.
The emergence of the recording marks another flash point in a political storm that shaken the Republicans of Virginia last week, deepening internal fractures and fueling the accusations of political beading only a few months before the November elections.
The controversy began after the Richonder reported that Youngkin personally called Reid to exhort to abandon him, citing concerns about the explicit publications shared by a Tumblr account using the name of Reid’s social media.
For days, Moran remained silent. Then, Wednesday evening – less than two hours before Reid took the scene alone during a GOP rally from the county of Henrico where Youngkin canceled his appearance – Moran Broken his silence With a public position.
“Let me be clear, the facts count, and they demonstrate that the accusations against me are not founded,” said Moran on X.
Moran’s lawyer, Terwilliger, followed with a strongly written letter rejecting Reid’s claims as ill -informed, warning that continuous accusations could have legal consequences and insisting that Moran “has never tried to extort, force or put pressure on Mr. Reid”. The letter also launched the possibility of a private call to resolve the issue.
Several Republican officials, alarmed by the deepening of the controversy, have publicly called Youngkin to Fire Moran, arguing that the continuous presence of the strategist damages the party’s credibility and distracted its electoral efforts in November.
By deepening the GOP virginia crisis, Reid accuses Youngkin of extortion. Is a legal battle to come?
For Moran, 36, the fight with high issues is the last chapter of a political career covering more than a decade.
He started as a campaign director and legislative assistant before becoming a spokesperson for the president of the time, William J. Howell, R-Stafford, then chief of staff to President Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights.
When Youngkin took office, Moran joined the administration as director of policies and legislative affairs – working in particular without state salary while remaining on leave of his consulting firms, direct creative and linking public affairs.
Whether the newly surface recording leads to legal action or additional fractures of the Virginia Republican Party remains to be seen, but it has injected a new emergency into a breed already engulfed in the controversy – and added another element to the political storm surrounding the Youngkin team a few months before a critical election.
Note and correction of the publisher: This story has been updated to add a statement on Matt Moran audio recording via his lawyer, George Terwilliger. It has also been updated to correct that Tim Anderson did not appear the meeting as a Moran witness.
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