Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #TheBackchannel
Most recents (4)
The latest texts released by Nancy New and now today by former Gov. Bryant come within a court battle about whether Bryant should have to produce all texts related to the USM-Favre volleyball project. Bryant wants to keep them private #TheBackchannel mississippitoday.org/2022/09/24/phi…
Bryant has released select text messages in an attempt to show that he had no idea Favre was using welfare money for the volleyball project in 2017. He suggests his appointed welfare director immediately committed $4m to the project without his knowledge.
Some of the most brow-raising new texts:
Bryant in 2019 after meeting with the new welfare director, Favre and New about volleyball funding:
“We are going to get there. This was a great meeting. But we have to follow the law. I am to old for Federal Prison. 😄😎”
Bryant in 2019 after meeting with the new welfare director, Favre and New about volleyball funding:
“We are going to get there. This was a great meeting. But we have to follow the law. I am to old for Federal Prison. 😄😎”
Judge Adrienne Wooten questioning John Davis about why he allowed thousands in TANF to go to Brett DiBiase for work he didn’t conduct and to pay for hotel services in New Orleans.
W: Why wasn’t that done (why didn’t you refer the matter to AG)?
D: My neglect.
#TheBackchannel
W: Why wasn’t that done (why didn’t you refer the matter to AG)?
D: My neglect.
#TheBackchannel
W: Is that neglect? If you knew about it?
D: That was a poor choice of words
W: That’s okay. (Pause)
But I still want my question answered.
(Pointedly:) Why. Did. You. Do. This?
D: That was a poor choice of words
W: That’s okay. (Pause)
But I still want my question answered.
(Pointedly:) Why. Did. You. Do. This?
Davis: (Long pause). Very, very bad judgement.
(Pause)
I shouldn’t have done it.
(Pause)
I shouldn’t have done it.
Let’s dig into what Gov. Reeves said about the MDHS civil suit yesterday, less than a week after removing the attorney who crafted the litigation — the latest wrinkle in Mississippi’s welfare scandal.
This one is a bit wonky, but bear with me.
mississippitoday.org/2022/07/29/gov…
This one is a bit wonky, but bear with me.
mississippitoday.org/2022/07/29/gov…
Both the Reeves admin and the attorney, Brad Pigott, say he was let go because he subpoenaed USM Athletic Foundation. The subpoena included their communication with NFL legend Brett Favre and former Gov. Phil Bryant, @MSTODAYnews first reported.
mississippitoday.org/2022/07/13/phi…
mississippitoday.org/2022/07/13/phi…
In 2017, the foundation entered what attorneys call a sham lease to secure $5 million in welfare funds from a MDHS-funded nonprofit to build a volleyball stadium — a project inspired by Favre.
mississippitoday.org/2022/04/06/bre…
mississippitoday.org/2022/04/06/bre…
Gov. Phil Bryant screenshotted my tweet below—which touched on my investigation into welfare in the spring of 2019, at the fever pitch of the largest taxpayer theft in state history—and sent it to MDHS Director John Davis. “How is she figuring this?” he asked. #TheBackchannel
My tweet contained a plain observation. In the poorest state, we left tens of millions of welfare funds unspent — something advocates had screamed about for years. I was digging around in the only public data available, limited and outdated, after MDHS had completely shut me out.
After a long, congenial intro call with the new MDHS spox, a former gov staffer and Supertalk exec, in Sept. 2018, where I rattled on about my personal values and intentions as a reporter, specifically in getting to the bottom of TANF, I never got a return call from her.
