Following The Washington Post‘s publication of the transcript of a recording they received from a source, Axios‘s Jonathan Swan is reporting that G.O.P. leadership is questioning how the recording happened and who leaked it to the media.
The dateline of the transcript article is “Kiev, Ukraine,” however while much of the initial discussion is about Speaker Paul Ryan’s 2016 meeting in his office with Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, the big question is now over where the recording and leak came from.
Security teams sweep congressional offices regularly and a recording device was never found, according to Axios sources. That has left Republican leadership with one high-profile source for the recording: Evan McMullin.
The most widespread theory in House leadership is that the secret recorder and the leaker was Evan McMullin, who as a former leadership aide participated in the June 15 conversation and confirmed the private conversation to the Washington Post.
Axios’s Swan admits that throughout the dialog between WaPo and leadership, that there is no evidence that shows McMullin was the recorder or leaker.
However, the “leadership sources” Axios cites are nevertheless concerned the recording came from McMullin when he sat in on private meetings, and that there could possibly be more recordings and leaks forthcoming.
McMullin and his apparatus have been far from quiet on the Trump administration. Though unlikely, it would be curious, and yet unsurprising, if the recording came from McMullin.
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