A new report identifies two founders of Progress Kentucky as the parties responsible for recording a February 2nd strategy meeting at Senator McConnell’s campaign office that was later published by Mother Jones.
According to Jacob Conway of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison bragged about having made the tape. “They were in the hallway after the, I guess after the celebration andhoopla ended, apparently these people broke for lunch and had a strategymeeting, which is, in every campaign I’ve been affiliated with, makesperfect sense,” Conway told WFPL in Louisville. He added “One of them held the elevator, the other one did the recording and they left. That was what they told to me from them directly.” Conway says no one from the Kentucky Democratic Party was involved in the taping.
Breitbart News was the first site to present the possibility, based on sources close to the campaign, that the recording might have been made by placing a microphone near a back door leading to a hallway. As published yesterday: “A source with intimate knowledge of the situationindicated that the office in which the meeting took place has a backdoor which is on a hallway leading to the building’selevators. The source agreed it’s possible someone with arecording device could have placed it under the door.” This morning a follow-up story indicated that the FBI had taken video recordings from the building and was rumored to have identified a suspect.
If the claims made by Conway are confirmed to be accurate, it’s possible but not certain that Reilly and Morrison could face charges. Kentucky law states that at least one party to a conversation must consent to a recording. Since the two were apparently lurking outside a locked room they could not grant that consent. However the law does have a wrinkle in situations where communications coming from another room are audible through a wall. It’s not clear if that exception applies only to conversations audible by ear or if it also protects recordings made with an electronic device such as a phone. Kentucky also makes it a misdemeanor to disclose recordings made in violation of the eavesdropping laws. So it’s also possible delivering the recording to Mother Jones could lead to charges.
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