NRSC Chairman Steve Daines reportedly told NBC News correspondent Sahil Kapur that he was unaware of the payoff offer by former AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit.
Kapor posted on X that Daines told him he “Just saw the report on it.”
.@NRSC Chair @SteveDaines tells me he didn’t know about this in AZ.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 24, 2024
"Just saw the report on it.”
“I have not listened to it. I saw the social media post, first I'd heard of it.”
Daines: “Look, I think Kari Lake is a great candidate, and she's gonna win that race in Arizona.” https://t.co/2eFZudHPoD
“I have not listened to it. I saw the social media post, first I’d heard of it,” the NBC journalist said.
Jeff DeWit, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), resigned on Wednesday after an audio recording was leaked revealing him offering Kari Lake money and a job if she stayed out of politics for two years. Now, questions are arising as to who told DeWit to make the offer.
The former chair of AZGOP said “very powerful people” “Back East” were behind it. A source knowledgeable of the situation told The Arizona Sun Times that it was the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), naming Political Director Tim Edson. However, when The Sun Times asked the NRSC if this was true, the organization did not respond.
Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas told The Sun Times, “The massive payola we long suspected flowed beneath the surface in Arizona apparently has been exposed at last.”
DeWit (pictured above) issued a lengthy statement after resigning, criticizing Lake for releasing the audio recording. He said Lake told him if he didn’t resign, she would release even more disturbing audio recordings.
The NRSC, along with its counterpart on the House side, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), has a lengthy history of meddling in primary races to keep conservative candidates they don’t believe are viable out of those races. In August 2022, the NRSC pulled $10 million worth of campaign ads from three candidates running for the U.S. Senate: Blake Masters in Arizona, Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. Despite the loss of funding, Johnson won reelection.
