GOP leadership sources worry Evan McMullin had a tape on during their confidential meetings

[flamingdem]

Ohhh.. sorry if posted already but this made my eyes pop.

Link to tweet

House Republican leadership is agitated after the Washington Post published a transcript from a secret recording of one of the inner-sanctum conversations in the office of Speaker Paul Ryan.

The transcript shows House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy joking with his colleagues that then-candidate Trump and California Republican Dana Rohrabacher were both on the payroll of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The unknown is frustrating," said one senior GOP aide, referring to the possibility that this wasn't the only private leadership conversation that was secretly recorded.
Keep reading 210 words

Behind-the-scenes: House leadership sources have pored over the article and are privately discussing theories about where the leak came from:

One theory — bolstered by the article's dateline ("Kiev, Ukraine&quot — is that the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, or one of his associates, left behind a recording device after meeting earlier that day with Ryan.

But of the five senior House GOP sources I've spoken to since the leak, none of them really believe that this leak came from the Ukrainians. Capitol security teams do regular sweeps of leadership offices and my sources aren't aware of recording devices being found.

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. (I am told that the Post, in their back-and-forth with leadership over the story, privately said that the source wasn't McMullin. There's no evidence that he was the leaker and I've reached out to him for comment.)

[flamingdem]

1. A little googling reveals that McMullin is ex-CIA - so motive and "tribe" are less murky

McMullin, who’s 40, does have an intriguing resume—one that shows the ideal #NeverTrump candidate is, apparently, an establishment functionary. He’s worked as a policy director for House Republicans (where, according to colleagues, he had a low profile), as a CIA operations officer, and as an investment banking associate at Goldman Sachs. His CIA credentials give weight to his major reason for opposing Trump: Like many people versed in foreign policy, McMullin believes that Trump’s anti-Muslim bigotry is not just morally objectionable but also harms America’s interest by making it harder to win allies in the Islamic world. He’s been an extensive critic of Trump on Facebook and Twitter, writing, for example, that “Trump’s exploitation of Americans’ security fears is cowardly.”

[furtheradu]

2. That's goood enuff for me!

Love his bone fides!💖

[Blue_Roses]

3. Hmmm

Keep denying it McMullin, especially since you didn't do it. They would be stupid to try and do anything legally to "whoever" did this.

[SHRED]

4. Many are in on this up to their collective necks

[nocalflea]

5. Karma . Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch. If it isn't one thing, it's another with this group. So much for having god on their side. (Oh, the joy I feel )

[flygal]

6. Yeah, that article needs to have the word "joking" in quotes.

McCarthy was not joking. Swear to god.